FROM   THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


Sect! 


on 


9561 


CARILLONS  of 

BELGIUM  and  HOLLAND 


WILLIAM    GORHAM    RICE 


This  Edition  is  Limited  to 
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for    America    and     England 


CARILLONS 

BELGIUM  *W  HOLLAND 

TOWER  MUSIC  IN 
THF  COUNTRIES 

BY 

WILLIAM   GORHAM  RICE 


ST.  ROMBOLD'S  TOWER 
WITH  TH,        AT  MECHLIN 


K:  JO! 

NE,  THE  BODLEY  1  i 


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CARILLONS 

BELGIUM  and  HOLLAND 


JAN  29  1937 


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TOWER  MUSIC  IN 
THE   LOW   COUNTRIES 

BY  i  i 

WILLIAM   GORHAM   RICE 


WITH  THIRTY-TWO  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK:  JOHN  LANE  COMPANY 
LONDON:  JOHN  LANE,  THE  BODLEY  HEAD 
TORONTO:  BELL  &  COCKBURN   :  MCMXIV 


Copyright,  1 9 14,  by 
JOHN  LANE  COMPANY 


PUBLISHERS    PRINTING    COMPANY 
307-217  West  Twenty-fifth  Street,  New  York 


TO 

MY  WIFE 

THE    CHARMING   GUIDE 

WHOSE   UNFAILING  INTEREST 

HAS   INSPIRED   THIS    BOOK,    AND   TO 

MY   SON 

WHOSE   COMPANIONABLE   AID 

HAS   COMPLETED   IT 


"VOORSLAG" 

WHEN  the  Assistant  Keeper  of  the 
British  Museum  wrote  me,  "I  know 
of  no  work  on  carillons,"  it  con- 
vinced me  there  was  need  of  another  book  in 
the  world.  In  many  journeys  through  the 
Low  Countries  I  had  admired  the  beauty  of 
bell-towers  and  had  listened  to  their  music 
with  increasing  delight.  Yet  rarely  did  I  find 
anyone  who  knew  the  story  of  the  towers  or 
could  tell  me  about  the  bells.  Primarily  to 
answer  such  questions,  this  book  was  begun. 
Soon  I  realised  that  the  subject  deserved 
larger  treatment  and  that  the  history,  often- 
times romantic,  of  the  carillon  art  ought  to  be 
preserved  in  an  accessible  form. 

What  is  brought  together  here  is  the  result 
of  explorations  among  many  towers,  and  of 
careful  research  in  libraries  of  the  United 
States  and  in  those  of  Antwerp,  Brussels,  the 
Hague,  and  Amsterdam,  and  in  the  Biblio- 
theque  Nationale  of  Paris.  Perhaps  still 
more  it  is  due  to  fortunate  acquaintance  with 
men  of  countries  other  than  our  own,  who, 


8  "VOORSLAG" 

sharing  my  admiration  and  affection  for  the 
Dutch  and  Flemish  peoples,  have  generously 
co-operated  in  my  endeavour  to  assemble  in  or- 
der widely  scattered  and  often  obscure  details 
concerning  the  origin  and  development  of  a 
unique  racial  music. 

Many  friends  have  assisted  me  in  compila- 
tion and  translation,  and  to  them  all  I  make 
grateful  acknowledgment.  Particularly  I 
wish  to  record  my  recognition  of  the  interest 
expressed  by  Mr.  Andrew  D.  White,  of 
Ithaca,  Chairman  of  the  American  Delega- 
tion at  the  First  Hague  Conference,  who  has 
visited  more  than  once  the  principal  bell-tow- 
ers of  Holland  and  Belgium.  My  thanks  are 
also  specially  due  to  Mr.  A.  J.  F.  van  Laer, 
the  State  Archivist,  Albany;  to  Mr.  Freder- 
ick Rocke,  organist  and  choir-master  of  the 
Cathedral  of  All  Saints,  Albany;  to  the  caril- 
lonneur  of  Mechlin,  Mr.  Josef  Denyn;  to 
that  of  Gouda,  Mr.  G.  van  Zuylen;  and  to 
that  of  the  Hague,  Mr.  J.  A.  de  Zwaan,  for 
valuable  aid  and  suggestions.  And  to  Mr.  J. 
J.  A.  Knoote,  of  the  Hague,  and  to  Mr.  J.  den 
Boer,  of  Middleburg,  I  am  indebted  for  many 
facts  and  several  illustrations. 


"VOORSLAG"  9 

My  indebtedness  is  also  acknowledged  to 
Mr.  W.  W.  Starmer,  of  Tunbridge  Wells,  for 
the  information  I  have  obtained  from  his  let- 
ters and  from  his  addresses  on  bell-music.  He 
recently  wrote  me:  "I  could  give  you  enough 
matter  to  fill  a  book,  on  clock  chimes  alone, 
Here  in  my  study  I  have  no  less  than  12000 
communications  catalogued."  Above  all,  I 
am  under  obligation  to  Mr.  Prosper  Verhey- 
den,  of  Antwerp,  who  has  kindly  given  me 
the  benefit  of  his  advice  and  has  generously 
put  at  my  service  knowledge  attained  by  long 
and  careful  study. 

The  courtesy  of  the  Houghton  Mifflin 
Company,  of  Boston,  in  allowing  me  to  re- 
print the  poem  by  Longfellow  is  much  appre- 
ciated. 

The  sources  of  my  information  have  been 
so  various  and  so  largely  from  books  in  lan- 
guages other  than  English  that  some  inaccu- 
racies may  be  found.  If  so,  I  should  be  glad 
to  have  them  made  known  to  me.  And  if 
those  in  any  country  who  know  or  find  addi- 
tional facts  will  send  them  to  me,  I  shall  be 
equally  glad. 

The  revival  of  interest  in  carillon  music  is 


10  "VOORSLAG" 

widespread,  a  revival  inspired  most  of  all  by 
the  devotion,  genius,  and  wonderful  skill  of 
Josef  Denyn,  greatest  of  bell-masters.  Trav- 
ellers from  other  lands  return  again  and  again 
to  the  Low  Countries,  attracted  by  picturesque 
scenes  of  market-place  and  busy  harbour;  of 
civic  hall  and  church  tower;  of  quiet  canal 
and  lush  field;  but  only  when  the  music  of 
bells  is  heard  over  all  does  the  charm  become 
complete. 


William  Gorham  Rice. 


135  Washington  Avenue, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 

PAGE 

The  land  of  carillons — Its  peculiar  attractiveness — 
Architectural  beauty  of  towers — Definition  of  car- 
illon— Remarks  of  Charles  Burney,  1773 — The 
frontiers  of  carillon  music — Stevenson — Scarcity 
of  carillon  literature — Longfellow — Hugo 19 

CHAPTER    II 

Journals  of  travellers — Correr,  1611 — Georgi,  1626— 
Garampi,  1764 — Evelyn,  1641 — Other  writings — 
Hemony's  book,  1678 — Fischer,  1737 — Schaep- 
kens,  1857 — Haweis,  1875 — Van  der  Straeten, 
1867-88— Gregoir,  1877-79— Starmer— Municipal 
records  and  local  histories 31 

CHAPTER    III 

Ghent — The  centenary — The  belfry — The  bells — Prin- 
cipal carillons  of  Belgium — Of  Holland — Mechlin 
— Methods  of  play — Automatic — By  a  bell-mas- 
ter— Connection  of  keyboard  with  bells — Pedal 
clavier — Most  effective  music — Anecdotes  of 
Ghent   44 

CHAPTER    IV 

Bruges — Meaning  of  "belfry" — Flemish  belfries — 
Municipal  ownership  of  carillons  and  bell  towers 
— Longfellow  at  Bruges — His  diary — "Carillon" — 
A  night  in  Bruges — Its  transformation — The  car- 
illon now — "The  Belfry  of  Bruges" 61 

11 


12  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   V 

PAGE 

The  primitive  carillon — Its  development  in  the  six- 
teenth century — Municipal  clocks — The  voorslag — 
The  "jeu  de  cloches" — Increase  in  number  of  bells 
— Improvement  of  keyboard  and  automatic  bar- 
rel— A  good  carillon  to-day — The  Denyn  improve- 
ments— Important  place  of  carillons  in  times  past 
— B russels — Mons — Maastricht — Ath — A  christen- 
ing at  Mechlin — A  celebration  at  Bruges — The 
twin  carillons  at  Maf ra,   Portugal 75 

CHAPTER   VI 

Founders — The  Hemonys — Their  contemporaries — At 
Zutfen — At  Amsterdam — Pieter  Hemony's  letters 
— The  amount  of  their  work — The  van  den 
Gheyns  and  the  van  Aerschodts — The  Dumerys 
— The  Waghevens — De  Haze — The  Petits — Fremy 
— Witlockx — Noorden  and  de  Grave — Derk — Mod- 
ern founders — Old  contracts — Maastricht — The 
Hague  —  Brussels  —  Ath  —  Middleburg — Danzig — 
Oudenaarde — Cost  of  bell-metal — Its  composition 
— Prices  of  carillons  to-day — Character  of  bells 
by  various  founders — Tuning 88 

CHAPTER   VII 

The  charm  of  unseen  music — Carillons  and  the  sea — 
De  Amicis — Carillons  and  character — Music  used 
in  automatic  play — Examples  of  music  used  now 
and  in  the  seventeenth  century — Effect  of  air  cur- 
rents— The  drum — Method  of  setting  tunes — The 
improved  cylinder — Drum  play  at  Mechlin — 
Praise  and  condemnation — Clavier  play — Deca- 
dence and  revival — The  music — Its  character — 
Where  to  listen — Market  day  music — Festive  con- 
certs— Description  of  a  keyboard Ill 


CONTENTS  13 

CHAPTER  VIII 

PAGE 

Carillonneurs  and  their  pay — Amsterdam — Pieter  Pa- 
ter— Pieter  Chatelet's  contract — Dirck  Scholl — 
Pothoff — Matthias  van  den  Gheyn — Haverals — 
Pay  and  duties  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries — To-day — Hereditary  bell-mastery — 
First  inspiration — Kindness  of  carillonneurs — A 
postcard  canvass — Further  kindnesses — Briel — 
Schiedam — Delft — Tours  suggested — The  carillon 
region — Mechlin   the  climax 131 

CHAPTER    IX 

How  the  Mechlin  carillon  was  got — Choosing  the 
bell-master — Mechlin — Louvain — Bruges  as  host 
— Mechlin  prize  competitions,  1897  and  1910 — 
Mr.  Denyn's  playing — His  other  activities  for  the 
art — The  Denyn  festival,  1912 — The  new  bell — 
The  afternoon  recital — The  evening  recital — The 
presentation  and  speeches — The  carillon  school 
— The  need  of  it — What  has  been  done — Its  scope 
— Difficulties  of  practice — Hope  against  fear 148 

CHAPTER   X 
A  visit  to  Mechlin,  August   18,   1913 165 

APPENDIX   A 
List  of  carillons  in   Holland 179 

APPENDIX  B 

List  of  carillons  in  Belgium 194 

APPENDIX    C 

List  of  carillons  in  other  countries — Austria-Hungary 
— Denmark — France — Germany — Great  Britain — 
Italy — Luxemburg — Portugal  —  Russia  —  Spain — 
Sweden — United  States  of  America 204 


14  CONTENTS 

APPENDIX    D 

PAGE 

Lists  of  bells  in  carillon  at  Mechlin — Carillon  at  Ghent 
— Peal  of  Exeter  Cathedral — Chime  of  Cornell 
University 210 

APPENDIX  E 

Report  of  the  Jury  at  the  Mechlin  prize  competition 

in    1910    214 

APPENDIX   F 

English  bells  and  change  ringing— Other  notes 225 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mechlin:  Saint  Rombold's  Tower  ....   Frontispiece 

Groningen:  Saint  Martin's  Church 20 

Amsterdam :  The  Mint  Tower  in  1765 24 

Antwerp :  The  Cathedral  Spire 28 

The  Hague:  The  Bell  Tower  in  the  Distance     .    .  32 

Delft:  The  New  Church  in  1729 38 

Fanciful  Picture  of  an  Ancient  Carillon 42 

Ghent:  The  Belfry 46 

Bruges:  The   Drum 54 

Antwerp:  The  Key  Board 56 

Bruges:  The  Belfry 62 

Bruges:  The  Bells 68 

Edam :  The  Bell  Tower 76 

Oudenaarde:  The  Town  Hall  Tower 80 

Mons:  The  Belfry 84 

Zutfen :  The  Wine  House  Tower  and  Market  Square  90 

Utrecht:  The  Cathedral  Tower 94 

Middleburg:  The  Abbey  Tower,  in  Winter  .    ...  102 

Appingedam:  The  Bell  Tower 106 

Amsterdam:  View  from  the  Palace  Bell-level  ...  108 

Mechlin:  Transmission  Bars  and  Wires 120 

Haarlem:  The  Great  Church  from  the  Spaarne  .    .  126 

15 


16  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mechlin:  The  Key  Board 128 

Amsterdam:  The  Carillonneur  in  His  Tower  Cabin  134 

Mechlin:  The  Bells 136 

Schiedam:  The  Bell  Tower 144 

Ypres:  The  Cloth  Hall  Tower 148 

Josef  Denyn  of  Mechlin:  The  Great  Bell-Master  .  166 

Amersfoort:  The  Tower  of  Our  Lady 182 

Enkhuizen:  The  Dromedary  Tower 186 

Veere:  The  Town  Hall 192 

Antwerp:  The  Cathedral  Spire  at  Sunrise  ....  196 

Map  of  the  Carillon  Region 51 

Carillon   Music 217 


CARILLONS  of 

BELGIUM  and  HOLLAN  D 


CARILLONS 


CHAPTER    I 

"Flanders  where  the  Carillons  ripple  from  old  Spires/' 

Dowden 

"In  Holland  the  passing  hour  sings."     De  Amicis 

MY  story  is  one  of  discovery  and  ex- 
ploration ;  exploration  leading  often 
into  fascinating  aerial  fields,  and 
discovery,  for  many  Americans,  at  least,  of  a 
new  kind  of  music.  Yet  the  land  of  which  I 
write  is  not  far  off  and  the  music  has  long 
been  heard.  Ver  Meer  and  Rembrandt,  van 
Dyck  and  Rubens,  listened  to  it  as  they  paint- 
ed the  life  of  their  time,  and  still  in  our  day 
the  benediction  of  this  music  continues  for 
travellers  and  for  all  people  in  the  Low 
Countries. 

It  is  heard  from  St.  Catherine's  tower  at 
Briel,  on  the  island  of  Voorne,  where  first 

19 


20  CARILLONS    OF 

"The  Beggars  of  the  Sea"  rose  up  against 
the  power  of  Spain,  and  it  sounds  from 
that  fifteenth  century  New  Church  at  Delft, 
where  William  of  Orange,  victorious  but  as- 
sassinated, forever  rests.  From  St.  Stephen's 
tower  at  Nimeguen,  rising  above  wide  river 
waters,  it  marks  the  hours  for  the  passing 
boatmen,  and  from  St.  Lawrence's  tower  at 
Rotterdam  it  gives  a  welcome  to  sailors  com- 
ing home  from  distant  seas. 

Hundreds  of  students  hear  its  call  at  the 
University  of  Louvain,  and  it  unites  with  the 
worship  of  thousands  in  the  Cathedral  at 
Antwerp.  At  Ypres  it  sounds  over  the  mag- 
nificent Cloth  Hall  of  the  merchants;  at 
Amsterdam  it  floats  over  the  great  palace 
of  the  Queen.  The  watchmen  high  up  in 
Groningen's  tower  in  the  north  and  those  in 
Mechlin's  tower  in  the  south,  follow  with 
their  faint-sounding  trumpet-strains  the  notes 
of  the  bells  at  each  half  hour  of  the  night; 
and  the  market-men  at  the  weigh-house  of 
Alkmaar,    and   the   market-women    in    their 


Groningen:  S.  Martin's  Church 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     21 

Zealand  costumes  at  Middleburg  wait  for 
the  signal  of  this  music  to  begin  their  sell- 
ing at  mid-day.  From  the  belfry  at  Ghent 
to-day  sounds  the  concord  of  bells  as  it 
did  when  the  Treaty  of  1814  first  was  pro- 
claimed, and  from  the  belfry  of  Bruges 
ring  the  chimes,  "low  at  times  and  loud  at 
times,"  which  were  the  inspiration  of  Long- 
fellow when  he  first  journeyed  through 
Flanders. 

So  tower  after  tower  might  be  named,  each 
carrying  a  part  in  this  chain  of  melody. 
Assuredly  no  music  joins  more  perfectly  in 
the  celebration  of  days  of  national  rejoic- 
ing; but,  better  still,  it  sends  down  from  airy 
heights  an  influence  which  lightens  routine 
and  to  happy  occupation  adds  an  accompani- 
ment of  surpassing  charm. 

Many  travellers  have  sought  to  compre- 
hend the  secret  of  the  attractiveness  of  the 
Low  Countries.  Complex  and  elusive  that 
secret  doubtless  is,  yet  I  believe  we  shall 
find  a  clue  for  our  search  in  a  knowledge 


22  TOWER    MUSIC    IX 

of  this  distinctive  m  Surely  its   long- 

continued  hold  upon  the  people  of  Holland 
and  Belgium;  its  association  with  stirring 
events  in  their  history;  its  touch  with  pro- 
saic duties;  its  democratic  spirit;  its  com- 
panionship with  time;  its  seat  in  lofty  towe:: 
and  its  maintenance  at  the  public  charge — 
all  give  suggestions  of  racial  temperament 
well  worth  considering. 

Most  of  these  lofty  towers  are  themselves 
of  exquisite  architectural  beauty.  Amersfoort 
and  Oudenaarde,  Veere  and  Mons,  and  all 
those  already  spoken  of,  are  perfect  in  their 
setting.  By  their  proportions  and  strength, 
by  their  domination  of  the  scene,  they  lal 
the  eye  even  before  the  melody  of  their  bells 
comes  to  please  the  ear. 

Before  approaching  nearer  the  domain  of 
unique  music  a  brief  definition,  showing 
in  general  terms  the  sense  in  which  the  word 
carillon  is  used  here,  seems  desirable.  Exact 
definition  would  demand  an  extended  consid- 
eration of  many  details  which  may  be  better 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         23 

kept  until  the  mechanism  and  technique  of 
tower  music  is  taken  up.  For  the  present 
then,  it  is  enough  to  say  that  a  carillon  is  i 
set  of  bells,  (a)  attuned  to  intervals  of  the 
chromatic  scale,  (b)  many  in  number,  some- 
times four  octaves  or  more,  (c)  the  lowest 
often  several  tons  in  weight,  with  each  suc- 
iing  bell  smaller,  so  that  in  the  highest 
octave,  the  weight  of  each  bell  is  scarcely  20 
pounds,  and  (d)  hung  fixed,  that  is,  so  as  not 
to  swing.  Owing  to  its  more  convenient  form, 
the  word  chime  has  often  been  used  when  a 
carillon  is  actually  meant.  Strictly,  a  chime, 
ring,  or  peal  is  a  set  of  bells  generally  not 
more  than  about  an  octave,  attuned  to  inter- 
vals of  the  diatonic  scale  with  sometimes  a 
few  additional  half  tones.  The  bells  of  a 
carillon  usually  are  connected  (a)  with  a  key- 
board by  means  of  which  a  bell-master  or 
carillonneur  causes  their  clapper  to  strike  the 
inside  of  their  sound  bow,  and  (b)  with  a 
clockwork  mechanism  which  causes  a  ham- 
mer to  strike  the  outside.    Between  a  carillon 


24  CARILLONS    OF 

and  a  cnime  this  fundamental  difference  exists, 
namely:  the  carillon  is  essentially  chromatic 
in  its  intervals  while  the  chime  is  essentially 
diatonic,  these  terms  being  used  as  defined  by 
Dr.  C.  W.  Pearce,  in  "Modern  Academic 
Counterpoint,"  where  he  says:  "Diatonic 
means  proceeding  mostly  by  tones  as  opposed 
to  chromatic,  which  proceeds  by  semitones. " 
The  chromatic  characteristic,  combined  as  it 
is  with  the  extended  compass  and  range  in 
size  of  the  bells,  enables  a  master  of  a  carillon 
keyboard  not  only  to  play  the  notes  of  a  great 
variety  of  music  but  to  interpret  its  sentiment 
and  to  produce  effects  which  are  distinctive 
and  beyond  the  power  of  any  other  musical 
instrument. 

That  quaint  book,  "The  Present  State  of 
Music  in  Germany,  in  the  Netherlands,  &c, 
being  The  Journal  of  a  Tour  undertaken  to 
collect  material  for  a  General  History  of 
Music  by  Charles  Burney,  Musical  Doctor, 
London,  1773,"  informs  us  that  the  traveller 
was  enlivened  in  his  journey  by  the  sound 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     25 

of  bells.  Their  playing  attended  him  almost 
constantly,  and  we  find  him  recording  im- 
pressions such  as  these: 

"Courtray.  It  was  in  this  town  that  I  first  per- 
ceived the  passion  for  carillons  or  chimes,  which  is 
so  prevalent  through  the  Netherlands.  I  happened  to 
arrive  at  11  o'clock  and  half  an  hour  after  the 
chimes  played  a  great  number  of  chearful  tunes,  in  dif- 
ferent keys,  which  awakened  my  curiosity  for  this  spe- 
cies of  music,  so  much  so  that  when  I  came  to  Ghent 
I  determined  to  inform  myself  in  a  particular  manner 
concerning  the  carillon  science.  For  this  purpose  I 
mounted  the  town  belfry  from  whence  I  had  a  full  view 
not  only  of  the  city,  which  is  reckoned  one  of  the  largest 
in  Europe,  but  could  examine  the  mechanism  of  the 
chimes,  so  far  as  they  are  played  by  clock-work,  and 
likewise  see  the  carillonneur  perform  with  a  kind  of  keys 
communicating  with  the  bells,  as  those  of  a  harpsichord 
or  organ  with  strings  and  pipes." 

*  *         *         * 

"Groningen.  Here  again  I  found  myself  in  a 
country  of  carillons;  I  had  indeed  heard  some  slight  at- 
tempts in  Bremen,  but  in  this  place  every  half  hour  is 
measured  by  chimes." 

*  *        *         * 

"Amsterdam.  This  is  truly  the  country  of  chimes; 
every  quarter  of  an  hour  a  tune  is  played  by  them  in 
all  the  churches." 


26  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

"Liege.  The  organist  of  the  Cathedral  is  likewise 
carillonneur  as  is  often  the  case  in  the  Netherlands; 
but  here  the  passion  for  chimes  begins  to  diminish." 

*         *         *         * 

"Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  passion  for  carillons  and 
chimes  seems  here  at  an  end.  However,  through  a  street 
through  which  a  procession  had  lately  passed,  there  were 
hung  to  festoons  and  garlands  a  great  number  of  oblong 
pieces  of  glass  cut  and  tuned  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
form  little  peals  of  four  and  five  bells  all  in  the  same 
key  which  were  played  on  by  the  wind.  *  *  *  They  are 
put  in  motion  by  the  most  gentle  breeze  which  may  truly 
be  called  the  carillonneur." 

The  passion  for  this  music  from  the  be- 
ginning of  its  larger  development  in  the 
sixteenth  century  followed  racial  influence 
rather  than  political  frontiers.  With  scarcely 
an  exception,  each  principal  town  of  the 
ancient  Netherlands,  both  north  and  south, 
early  established  its  municipal  carillon  and 
maintained  it  with  devoted  spirit.  In  north- 
ern France  too,  as  at  Douai,  Arras,  Lille, 
Cambrai,  and  Dunkirk,  and  here  and  there 
in  border  towns  of  western  Germany,  as  at 
Malmedy  and  Diiren,  bell  towers  have  long 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         27 

existed,  and  many  of  these  possess  even  now 
their  complement  of  harmonious  bells. 

It  was  at  Antwerp  on  the  Scheldt  that 
Arethusa  and  Cigarette  began  their  voyage, 
and  in  that  delightful  chapter,  "The  Oise  in 
Flood,"  Stevenson  thus  tells  how  a  new  sen- 
sation of  sound  revealed  itself: 

"On  the  other  side  of  the  valley  a  group  of  red  roofs 
and  a  belfry  showed  among  the  foliage;  thence  some 
inspired  bell  ringer  made  the  afternoon  musical  on  a 
chime  of  bells.  There  was  something  very  sweet  and 
taking  in  the  air  he  played  and  we  thought  we  had  never 
heard  bells  speak  so  intelligently  or  sing  so  melodiously 
as  these.  It  must  have  been  after  some  such  measure 
that  the  spinners  and  the  young  maids  sang  'Come  away, 
Death'  in  the  Shakespearian  Illyria. 

"There  is  so  often  a  threatening  note,  something 
blatant  and  metallic  in  the  voice  of  bells  that  I  be- 
lieve we  have  fully  more  pain  than  pleasure  in  hearing 
them;  these  as  they  sounded  abroad,  now  high,  now 
low,  now  with  a  plaintive  cadence  *  *  *,  were  always 
moderate  and  tunable  and  seemed  to  fall  into  the  spirit 
of  the  still  rustic  places  like  noise  of  a  waterfall.  *  *  * 
I  could  have  blessed  the  priest  or  the  heritors,  or  who- 
soever may  be  concerned  with  such  affairs  in  France 
who  had  left  these  sweet  old  bells  to  gladden  the  after- 
noon.    At  last  the  bells  ceased  and  with  their  note  the 


28  CARILLONS    OF 

sun  withdrew.     The  piece  was  at  an  end;  shadow  and 
silence  possessed  the  valley  of  the  Oise." 

What  bells  they  were  that  Stevenson  heard 
we  do  not  know.  Certainly  more  than  once 
their  music  must  have  sounded  over  him 
as  Belgian  market-place  and  French  church 
tower  were  passed  on  that  inland  voyage. 

Why  should  the  measures  of  this  music 
be  thought  so  intelligent  and  melodious? 
And  why  should  chimes  in  those  nether  lands 
awaken  so  great  civic  interest  and  popular 
affection,  when  the  playing  of  bells  at  home 
often  distracts  rather  than  pleases  our  ear? 
Even  if  no  complete  answer  finally  appears 
here  to  questions  such  as  these,  I  trust  that 
we  shall  have  been,  if  not  discoverers,  at 
least  explorers  together  in  congenial  fields. 

Nowhere  can  be  found  any  comprehen- 
sive treatment  of  carillons,  their  towers,  and 
their  music.  True,  some  traveller  has  in- 
cidentally mentioned  the  beauty  of  their 
melody,  or  has  curiously  looked  into  their 
playing,  or  has  briefly  described  an  enchant- 


Antwerp:  The  Cathedral  Spire 
Sketch  by  Jean  Baes 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     29 

ing  view  from  the  tower  cabin  of  a  caril- 
lonneur;  or  perhaps  some  poet  has  given 
them  a  charming  setting  in  his  rhyme. 

Many  of  us  know  the  verses  in  which 
Longfellow  wrote: 

"But  amid  my  broken  slumbers 
Still  I  heard  those  magic  numbers, 
As  they  loud  proclaimed  the  flight 
And  stolen  marches  of  the  night." 

And  lovers  of  French  will  remember  the 
poem  of  Victor  Hugo  in  "Les  rayons  et  les 
ombres,"  entitled  "Ecrit  sur  la  vitre  d'une 
fenetre  flamande": 

"J'aime  le  carillon  dans  tes  cites  antiques, 
O  vieux  pays  gardien  de  tes  mceurs  domestiques, 
Noble  Flandre,  ou  le  nord  se  rechauffe  engourdi 
Au  soleil  de  Castille  et  s'accouple  au  midi! 
Le  carillon,  c'est  l'heure  inattendue  et  folle, 
Que  l'ceil  croit  voir,  vetue  en  danseuse  espagnole, 
Apparaitre  soudain  par  le  trou  vif  et  clair 
Que  ferait  en  s'ouvrant  une  porte  de  Pair; 
Elle  vient,  secouant  sur  les  toits  lethargiques 
Son  tablier  d'argent  plein  de  notes  magiques, 
Reveillant  sans  pitie  les  dormeurs  ennuyeux, 
Sautant  a  petits  pas  comme  un  oiseau  joyeux, 


30  TOWER   MUSIC 

Vibrant,  ainsi  qu'un  dard  qui  tremble  dans  la  cible; 
Par  un  frele  escalier  de  cristal  invisible, 
Erraree  et  dansante,  elle  descend  des  cieux; 
Et  l'esprit,  ce  veilleur  fait  d'oreilles  et  d'yeux 
Tandis  qu'elle  va,  vient,  monte  et  descend  encore, 
Entend  de  marche  en  marche  errer  son  pied  sonore !" 


CHAPTER   II 

"I  had  the  honour  of  being  every  day  permitted  to 
search  in  the  Bibliotheque  du  Roi,  in  Paris,  for  more 
than  a  month  together,  in  hopes  of  finding  something  to 
my  purpose,  but  in  vain."  Charles  Burney 

WHILE  carillons  may  not  have  ap- 
peared often  in  general  literature, 
frequent  notice  of  them  is  found  in 
the  letters  and  diaries  of  observant  travellers. 
That  the  early  Venetian  ambassadors  to  the 
Low  Countries  were  impressed  by  their  mel- 
ody is  shown  clearly  in  the  "Relazione  Vene- 
ziane,"  recently  published  by  the  Dutch  Gov- 
ernment. There  Marcantonio  Correr,  writing 
in  1611  of  the  tower  at  Middleburg,  says: 

"Ha  un  horologio  all*  uso  de'  Paesi  Bassi,  che  a  tutti 
gli  quarti  ed  a  tutte  le  hore  suonano  una  quantita  grande 
di  campane  musicalmente  *  *  *;  suonano  da  per  se 
con  artificio  et  con  tastature  secondo  ancora  che  si  su- 
onano gli  organi." 

The  expression  "air  uso  de'  Paesi  Bassi," 

31 


32  CARILLONS    OF 

indicates  that  the  ambassador,  who  doubt- 
less had  travelled  in  many  European  coun- 
tries, regarded  the  carillon  as  peculiar  to 
the  lands  of  Rembrandt  and  Rubens.  Par- 
ticularly interesting,  too,  is  a  passage  from 
Francesco  Belli's  account  of  the  journey  of 
Ambassador  Giorgio  Giorgi  in  1626: 

"Le  campane  di  questi  paesi  servono  per  musica: 
hanno  una  temperatura  soave  ed  una  consonanza  ar- 
monica,  ch'  isprime  ed  unisce  tutte  le  voci;  ed  in  Aga 
appunto  il  batter  dell'hora  e  prevenuto  da  un  concerto 
di  campanelli  sonori  e  dilicati  al  possibile.  Aggiungo 
qui  la  industria  ed  il  modo  d'un  publico  benefizio,  ch' 
e  una  campana  di  tanta,  no  so  se  io  dica  riputazione  o 
superstizione,  che  a  morti  non  si  suona  per  manco  di 
cinque  ducati  per  hora." 

"The  bells  in  these  (low)  countries  serve  for  music; 
their  timbre  is  so  sweet  and  their  harmony  so  complete 
that  they  express  and  include  all  the  notes  of  the  voice; 
and  in  the  Hague  the  striking  of  the  hour  is  preceded 
by  a  concert  from  the  belfry  which  is  most  melodious 
and  delicate.  Thrift  here  combines  with  a  form  of  pub- 
lic benefaction,  for  a  bell  is  so  regarded,  I  do  not  know 
whether  I  should  say  with  reverence  or  superstition, 
that  for  the  dead  it  is  not  sounded  for  less  than  five 
ducats  an  hour." 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     33 

What  was  true  of  the  Venetian  ambas- 
sadors was  true  also  of  representatives  from 
the  Papal  Court.  Indeed,  the  carillons  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  all  foreigners  of 
culture  who  passed  through  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. Count  Giuseppi  Garampi  of  Rimini, 
Prefect  of  the  Vatican  Archives,  in  1764, 
accompanied  Monsignor  Oddi,  then  Nuncio 
to  Switzerland  and  afterward  Cardinal,  on 
a  journey  to  Holland.  Monsignor  Garampi, 
who  himself  later  became  Nuncio  to  Vienna 
and  Cardinal,  was  a  man  of  much  learning 
and  greatly  interested  in  everything  per- 
taining to  the  social  conditions  and  customs 
of  the  countries  through  which  he  travelled, 
and  his  journal,  preserved  in  the  Vatican, 
mentions  "il  carillon"  a  number  of  times. 
The  one  at  Delft  he  calls  "il  piu  armonioso 
di  tutti  questi  paesi." 

Concerning  Utrecht  he  writes: 

"There  is  a  carillon  which  is  played  by  hand  at  cer- 
tain hours  of  the  day,  the  playing  lasting  each  time  a 
good  half  hour  or  three  quarters  of  an  hour.    The  per- 


34  TOWER   MUSIC    IN 

son  who  plays,  strikes  the  various  bells  in  such  a  way 
as  to  produce  musical  chords  and  makes  various  melo- 
dies which  are  quite  pleasing." 

And  of  the  City  Hall,  now  the  Palace,  at 
Amsterdam,  he  says: 

"I  examined  the  carillon,  the  drum  of  which  has 
7200  holes  for  various  chords  and  pieces  of  music  which 
are  produced  by  the  arrangement  of  a  number  of  pegs 
that  are  inserted  into  these  holes  and  which,  as  the  drum 
revolves,  strike  certain  levers  which  raise  the  hammers 
that  strike  the  bells." 

It  is  indicative  of  the  place  carillons  oc- 
cupied in  the  affairs  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury that  grave  ambassadors  considered  it 
worth  while  to  send  account  of  this  music 
of  bells  to  the  Doge  and  Senate  of  the  far- 
away Southern  Republic. 

James  Howell,  in  one  of  his  Familiar  Let- 
ters, dated  Antwerp,  1622,  gives  "A  Survey 
of  the  Seventeen  Provinces,"  and  briefly  men- 
tions that  "Those  curious  quadrants,  chim's 
and  dialls  *  *  *  were  first  us'd  by  them." 
The  earliest  considerable  reference  to  caril- 
lons in  English  seems,  however,  to  be  in  the 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         35 

Diary  of  John   Evelyn.     This   is  his  inter- 
esting entry: 

"Amsterdam,  August,  1641.  The  turrets,  or  steeples, 
are  adorned  after  a  particular  manner  and  invention; 
the  chimes  of  bells  are  so  rarely  managed,  that  being 
curious  to  know  whether  the  motion  was  from  any  en- 
gine, I  went  up  to  that  of  St.  Nicholas,  where  I  found 
one  who  played  all  sorts  of  compositions  from  the  tab- 
lature  before  him,  as  if  he  had  fingered  an  organ;  for 
so  were  the  hammers  fastened  with  wires  to  several 
keys  put  into  a  frame  twenty  feet  below  the  bells,  upon 
which  (by  help  of  a  wooden  instrument,  not  much  un- 
like a  weaver's  shuttle,  that  guarded  his  hand)  he  struck 
on  the  keys  and  played  to  admiration.  All  this  while, 
through  the  clattering  of  the  wires,  din  of  the  too  nearly 
sounding  bells,  and  noise  that  his  wooden  gloves  made, 
the  confusion  was  so  great,  that  it  was  impossible  for 
the  musician,  or  any  that  stood  near  him,  to  hear  any- 
thing himself;  yet,  to  those  at  a  distance,  and  especially 
in  the  streets,  the  harmony  and  the  time  were  the  most 
exact  and  agreeable." 

That  there  never  has  been  attempted  until 
now  any  comprehensive  historic  treatment 
of  this  characteristic  democratic  municipal 
music  of  the  Low  Countries  is  difficult  to 
believe.     Especially  does  this  omission  seem 


38  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

sustained  and  endorsed  by  the  signatures  of 
the  city  carillonneurs  of  Briel,  Delft  and 
Amsterdam.  The  book  ends  with  these  live- 
ly verses  by  Dirck  Scholl  of  Delft  directed 
against  Quiryn  van  Blankenburgh,  official 
carillonneur  of  the  Hague,  who,  it  appears, 
had  strongly  argued  that  C  sharp  and  D  sharp 
were  necessary: 

De  Cis  en  Dis  die  zyn  ter  Gouw, 
Is  dat  niet  volmaakt  gebouw? 
Quirinus  geeft  het  woord  van  Ja, 
Kan  't  beter  voor  ons  dan  niet  besta? 

Hij  raad  de  Stad  en  leid  haar  om 
Tot  iets  dat  meesten  tijd  blijft  stom: 
Ja  ieder  slag  kost  een  pond  groot, 
Zij  hangen  daar  als  levend-dood. 

Which  may  thus  be  put  in  English: 

Those  bells  Cis  and  Dis  of  old  Gouda's  big  Chime, 
In  truth  were  they  bought  to  make  melody  fine? 
Quirinus  says:  Yes,  that  their  music  is  rare. 
To  us  it  were  well  had  they  never  hung  there; 

The  city  was  cheated  and  wrongly  induced 
To  purchase  what  scarcely  could  ever  be  used. 
Each  stroke  of  these  bells  costs  a  pound,  so  'tis  said; 
Pretending  they're  living,  in  fact  they  are  dead! 


^^^S^rmrfm^rr-T^WF^r^^r^r.lH  t.i  H-il  7  i'ffiTfiVnT.fm 


NIE1  WE  ,(|,ei-cer  S!  URSULs.  KERCK. 


»'.LLLi'T3 


Delft:  The  New  Church  in  1729 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         39 

The  second  book,  a  small  quarto  having 
only  about  a  score  of  pages,  is  also  Dutch 
and  its  title  is :  " Verhandeling  van  de  Klok- 
ken  en  het  Klokkespel."  It  was  published 
at  Utrecht  in  1737  by  J.  P.  A.  Fischer,  an 
organist  and  carillonneur  well-known  at  that 
time.  A  fanciful  illustration  therein  of  a 
carillonneur  at  his  keyboard  is  taken  from 
Mersenne's  "Harmonie  Universelle,"  1636. 
While  Fischer  discusses  the  origin  of  the 
Klokkespel — the  Dutch  word  for  carillon — 
and  gives  rules  for  setting  tunes  for  automatic 
hour  play  his  larger  interest  is  in  bells  gener- 
ally and  in  curious  tales  about  them  and  he 
presents  nothing  comprehensive  concerning 
the  carillon  art. 

The  Journal  of  Dr.  Burney,  published  in 
1773,  has  already  been  quoted.  He  has  much 
more  to  say  about  carillons,  and  the  tech- 
nical skill  exhibited  in  their  playing  was 
very  amazing  to  him.  Nevertheless,  he  had 
little  sympathy  with  what  he  so  often  calls 
the  "passion  for  carillons,"  and  his  conclu- 


40  CARILLONS    OF 

sion  was  that  they  were  of  no  genuine  mu- 
sical importance.  Alexandre  Schaepkens, 
"Directeur  de  l'Ecole  de  Dessin  de  Maas- 
tricht, Chevalier  de  Tordre  de  la  Couronne 
de  Chine,"  published  at  Brussels  in  1857  a 
small  volume,  "Des  Cloches  et  de  leur  usage," 
in  which  are  quoted  two  or  three  pages  of 
interesting  specifications  from  seventeenth 
century  carillon  contracts. 

Quite  a  contrary  view  to  that  of  Dr. 
Burney  was  presented  a  hundred  years  later 
by  another  Englishman,  the  Rev.  H.  R. 
Haweis.  In  "Music  and  Morals,"  printed 
at  London  in  1875,  he  discussed  carillons 
with  much  enthusiasm,  advocated  their  use 
in  England  as  far  superior  to  chimes,  and 
urged  his  countrymen  to  take  up  their  play- 
ing in  the  place  of  change-ringing.  Then, 
even  as  now,  exact  knowledge  of  carillons 
was  difficult  to  obtain,  and  Mr.  Haweis  ap- 
parently not  having  the  time  to  search  out 
such  detailed  information  as  was  available, 
contented  himself  with  a  general  treatment 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     41 

of  the  subject.  Closer  to  the  present  day, 
the  gifted  Italian,  De  Amicis,  and  other 
writers  of  books  of  travel,  have  given  a  few 
words  of  charming  description  where  tower 
views  and  melodies  have  attracted  them. 

Covering  wider  ground,  however,  than 
anything  before  it,  is  "La  Musique  aux  Pays 
Bas,  Avant  le  XIX  Siecle;  documents  inedits 
et  annotes,"  published  1867- 1888  by  Edmond 
van  der  Straeten,  a  distinguished  Belgian 
author  and  musician.  That  erudite  and  well- 
indexed  work  contains  many  references  to 
carillons  and  gives  data  of  decided  historic 
value.  Ancient  carillon  compositions  have  a 
place  in  the  second  part  of  the  "Bibliotheque 
Musicale  Populaire,"  published  by  E.  G.  J. 
Gregoir,  at  Brussels,  in  1877- 1879.  There 
also  will  be  found  a  brief  account  of  caril- 
lons, with  a  list  of  those  in  Belgium,  and  a 
list  of  founders.  Finally,  within  the  last 
decade  W.  W.  Starmer,  member  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Music,  London,  has  published 
on  several  occasions  papers,  of  which  I  have 


42  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

made  much  use,  giving  a  sympathetic  and  ac- 
curate analysis  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
carillon  and  he  contemplates  putting  in  more 
permanent  form  his  valuable  conclusions. 

The  publications  enumerated  cover  sub- 
stantially all  that  has  been  written,  so  far 
as  I  can  ascertain,  upon  the  broader  features 
of  the  carillon  art.  Remaining  to  be  con- 
sidered are  the  early  municipal  records  so 
religiously  preserved  in  Holland  and  Bel- 
gium; the  later  archaeological  annals,  con- 
tributed by  Dr.  G.  van  Doorslaer,  Professor 
W.  P.  H.  Jansen,  D.  F.  Scheurleer,  F.  A. 
Hoefer,  J.  W.  Enschede  and  other  careful 
investigators,  and  the  present  day  local  pam- 
phlets often  ephemeral  and  rare  and  many 
times  containing  facts  and  traditions  not  else- 
where to  be  found.  These  all  yield  cumu- 
lative evidence  of  the  close  relationship  of 
the  carillon  to  the  civic  and  social  life  of 
the  Low  Countries  throughout  the  past  four 
centuries. 

It  early  became  clear  to  me  that  the  caril- 


Fanciful  Picture  of  an  Ancient  Carillon 

Mersexne's  Harmoxie  Uxiverselle,  1636 


THE    LOW   COUNTRIES         43 

Ions  themselves  must  be  heard  and  seen  to 
be  fully  understood.  With  this  purpose  I 
have  visited  all  the  towers  thus  far  men- 
tioned and  many  others  besides. 


CHAPTER    III 

"When  I  came  to  Ghent  I  determined  to  inform  my- 
self in  a  particular  manner  concerning  the  carillon 
science/*  Charles  Burney 

THE  traveller  who  would  most  com- 
fortably gain  the  heights  of  a  bell- 
tower,  and  most  easily  see  the  bells 
and  the  mechanism  of  a  large  carillon  should 
visit  the  belfry  of  Ghent  in  Belgium.  This 
alone  of  the  towers  in  the  Low  Countries  has 
an  electric  lift.  Perhaps  some  explorer  may 
feel  that  the  atmosphere  of  the  antique  is  dis- 
turbed by  so  modern  an  invention,  but  by  its 
aid  the  ascent  becomes  possible  for  many  who 
would  not  undertake  the  arduous  climb,  some- 
times of  several  hundred  steps  necessary  to 
reach  a  carillonneur's  cabin.  Antwerp,  for 
instance,  has  622  steps;  Bruges  402;  and 
Mechlin  400,  to  the  bells. 

Ghent  at  this  time  will  specially  attract 
English-speaking  people  and,  indeed,  those  of 

44 


BELGIUM   AND   HOLLAND     45 

all  lands  who  feel  that  the  alleged  gains  of 
war  are  the  great  illusion  of  the  present  day. 
The  same  carillon  which  rang  out  a  century 
ago,  will  welcome  now  the  completion  of  a 
hundred  years  of  peace  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  begun  by  the  treaty 
signed  on  December  24th,  18 14.  That  Christ- 
mas Eve  agreement  was  the  work  of  J.  Q. 
Adams,  Gallatin,  Clay,  Bayard,  and  Russell, 
representatives  at  Ghent  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States,  aided  by  the  wisdom  of  Madi- 
son and  Monroe  at  home.  On  the  part  of 
England  it  was  due  to  Castlereagh,  Bathurst, 
Liverpool,  and  Wellington,  though  none  of 
these  men  were  actually  Peace  Commissioners. 
No  accomplishment  of  the  treaty  was  more 
important  than  that  which  provided  for  the 
arbitration  of  the  boundary  between  the 
United  States  and  Canada;  a  line,  with  its 
subsequent  extensions,  running  by  land  and 
water  nearly  4000  miles.  Since  the  signing  of 
the  treaty,  not  a  few  irritating  controversies 
have  arisen  between  the  nations  who  were 


46  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

parties  to  it,  and  great  populations  active  in 
trade  rivalries  have  come  to  exist  on  either 
side  of  the  dividing  line,  but  through  all,  that 
line  has  continued  unfortified,  unguarded, 
and  unpatrolled.  Both  adjacent  peoples  have 
maintained  their  rights,  both  have  advanced 
in  prosperity  and,  as  fixed  by  arbitration,  that 
boundary  has  remained  secure  with  neither 
forts,  nor  soldiers,  nor  ships  of  war  upon  it  to 
keep  a  threatening  or  even  a  protective  watch. 
The  fine  house,  with  extensive  grounds,  in 
the  Rue  des  Chartreux  in  which  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  negotiations  of  1814  took  place, 
known  then  as  the  house  of  Lieven  Bauwens 
and  occupied  by  the  British  Peace  Commis- 
sioners, is  now  a  Carthusian  convent.  It  was 
there,  in  the  long  saloon  looking  out  upon  an 
inner  court  which  contains  a  delightful  formal 
garden,  that  the  treaty  was  signed.  The  carved 
woodwork  and  decorated  ceiling  have  re- 
mained in  their  original  form,  but  the  room 
itself  was  divided  in  recent  years  by  plain  par- 
titions into  three  parts.    It  is  a  satisfaction  to 


Ghent:  The  Belfry 
Sketch  by  Jean  Baes 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         47 

know  that  this  historic  meeting-place  has  lately 
been  restored  to  its  earlier  size  and  dignity. 

Not  far  distant  in  the  very  heart  of  the  old 
city  is  the  Place  Saint  Bavon,  at  one  side  of 
which  rises  the  great  bell-tower.  The  heights 
of  this  belfry  once  gained,  the  traveller  finds 
himself  among  a  greater  company  of  bells, 
both  large  and  small,  than  he  has  ever  before 
seen.  In  all  there  are  52  bells.  Fixed  upon 
a  heavy  framework  of  wooden  beams,  they  ex- 
tend in  parallel  rows,  tier  above  tier,  filling 
the  sides  of  the  great  tower  room.  The  little 
bells  are  hung  the  highest.  The  big  ones  just 
clear  the  floor.  The  largest  of  all  is  taller 
than  a  tall  man.  Its  diameter,  82.67  inches,  is 
even  greater  than  its  height.  It  weighs  six 
tons.  On  it  is  this  inscription  in  Flemish, 
"My  name  is  Roland;  when  I  toll  there  is 
fire,  and  when  I  ring,  there  is  victory  in  the 
land."  Made  in  1314,  it  was  recast  in  1659 
and  will  have  again  to  be  recast  as  a  crack 
developed  in  July,  1914.  The  smallest  bell 
has  both  a  height  and  a  diameter  of  only  about 


48  CARILLONS    OF 

8  inches  and  weighs  less  than  18  pounds.  In 
some  ways,  nothing  gives  a  better  idea  of  a 
great  carillon  to  one  who  has  not  seen  it  than 
a  list  of  bells  composing  it.  Such  a  list  of  the 
Ghent  carillon,  with  some  details  of  each  bell, 
is  given  in  an  appendix. 

Of  greater  consequence,  however,  than 
number,  or  size,  or  weight  is  the  pitch  rela- 
tionship of  the  bells.  For  it  is  to  be  borne 
in  mind  that  throughout  virtually  its  entire 
compass  the  bells  of  every  carillon  progress 
by  regular  semitone  or  chromatic  intervals. 
Ghent  has  these  intervals  complete  through 
four  and  one-half  octaves,  except  that  in  the 
lowest  part  of  its  bass,  two  semitones  are 
omitted.  Other  carillons  have  somewhat 
fewer  bells  but  this  essentially  chromatic  scale 
is  characteristic  of  all,  and  the  compass  of  the 
most  important  is  from  three  to  four  octaves. 
Omission  of  bells  in  the  bass  is  primarily  be- 
cause of  their  great  weight  and  therefore 
great  cost.  Hemony's  spirited  little  book 
upon  this  subject  and  the  declaration  of  the 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     49 

amusing  Gouda  verses,  "Each  stroke  costs  a 
pound,  so  'tis  said,"  will  be  recalled.  An  ex- 
amination of  the  list  of  the  bells  of  Ghent 
shows  that  if  the  omitted  bass  bells  had  been 
supplied,  they  would  have  weighed  about 
nine  tons.  In  other  words  these  two  would 
have  weighed  as  much  as  the  46  composing 
the  middle  and  upper  parts  of  the  carillon. 

There  are  today  in  Belgium  about  30  caril- 
lons of  importance  and  in  Holland  about  20. 
If  those  of  lesser  consequence  are  included  the 
total  for  both  countries  will  be  well  over  100. 
Many  authorities  give  higher  figures,  Brock- 
haus'  German  Encyclopedia  saying  there 
are  115  m  the  Netherlands  and  97  in  Belgium, 
but  such  numbers  must  include  many  caril- 
lons not  now  existing.  The  individuality  of 
their  towers  and  their  surroundings  will  make 
all  carillons  of  interest  to  students  and  to  trav- 
ellers with  ample  time  at  their  disposal.  But 
there  are  many  not  in  either  of  these  privi- 
leged classes,  and  for  their  benefit  I  name  a 
score  that  seem  most  worth  hearing. 


50  TOWER    MUSIC 

Curiously  enough,  opinion  as  to  what  are 
the  best  seems  rarely  to  have  been  recorded, 
though  I  discover  that  Ghent  in  1543  sent 
four  commissioners  to  examine  the  carillons 
of  Antwerp,  Mechlin,  Tongerloo,  and  Lou- 
vain,  apparently  then  considered  the  most 
famous.  Similarly  commissioners  from  Ypres 
went  to  hear  the  carillons  of  Lille,  Tournai, 
Ghent,  Aalst,  and  Mechlin,  in  1575.  De  Sany, 
an  historian  of  music  living  at  Brussels,  made 
a  list  in  1642  of  renowned  carillons  in  his  day 
and  headed  it  with  Brussels,  Louvain,  Ant- 
werp, Ghent,  Mechlin,  Mons,  and  Tournai. 
In  our  own  day  van  der  Straeten  indicates  as 
the  best,  Mechlin,  Antwerp,  Delft,  and  Gro- 
ningen,  and  Larousse  gives  as  the  most  impor- 
tant, Amsterdam,  Delft,  Haarlem,  Bruges, 
Mechlin,  Antwerp,  Ghent,  Aalst,  and  Oude- 
naarde.  The  lists  here  given  embody  conclu- 
sions which  have  been  reached  after  hearing 
many  carillons  and  after  talking  with  many 
carillonneurs  and  lovers  of  the  art.  I  offer 
them  as  a  suggestion  rather  than  as  a  state- 


MAP  Or  THE  ^-2?" 

Carillon  Reciom  ^Leety^«T 

Towns   HAviwfi  i\ 

Tmc  Best   Ca«mu«.on&      [/ 


^LKMA 


GftQNiNaert 


VcfiRj   ^ 
MlOOLtB  UM(«' 


•S  H£HTO«eNBOScT 


•  ElNOHOVI 


0 3TE M  O. 


Bf\u<3  es 


jlu 


S.NlKUAAS 


"TH  I  «  «.T. 


*M  ECHLIN 


Own  KIR.  K         OvOtNAAROt'AALST 


tVPRt 
LlLLC 


DlEST 
•L.O  UVAI  N 


ath.   BELGIUM 


ARRAS •    Va  w  e «  o".  e n  r» 


Mows 


•  Nam  w  *s 


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< 

-,^    CotooKt 


Ma  cm  e  e  Y 


51 


52 


CARILLONS    OF 


ment  of  recognized  relative  standing,  for  in 
such  a  matter  no  absolute  determination  is 
possible.  In  making  up  these  groups,  accu- 
racy of  the  pitch  of  the  bells,  their  timbre, 
their  weight,  their  compass,  the  perfection  of 
their  playing  mechanism,  their  arrangement 
in  the  tower,  and  the  situation  of  the  tower 
itself — all  have  been  considered.  The  follow- 
ing, in  my  judgment,  are  the  best  carillons  in 
Belgium  and  in  Holland. 


BEST  CARILLONS  IN   BELGIUM 


TOWN 

Mechelen 

Malines 

Mechlin 

,„„rr„                                                                   NUMBER 
T0WER                                                                     OF    BELLS 

Sint  Romboutstoren 

Tour  de  Saint-Rombaut      45 

Saint  Rombold's  Tower 

Brugge 
Bruges 
Bruges 

Halletoren 
Tour  des  Halles 
Belfry 

49 

Antwerpen 

Anvers 

Antwerp 

Onze  Lieve  Vrouwetoren 
Tour  de  Notre  Dame 
Cathedral  of  Our  Lady 

47 

Gent 
Gand 
Ghent 

Klokketoren 

Beffroi 

Belfry 

52 

Leuven 
Louvain 

Sint  Geertruitoren 
Ste.   Gertrude,   S.  Ger- 
trude's 

40 

BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     53 


BEST   CARILLONS  IN    BELGIUM— Continued. 


TOWN 

Leuven 
Louvain 

TOWER 

Sint  Pieterstoren 
St.  Pierre,  S.  Peter's 

NUMBER 
OF    BELLS 

46 

Yperen 
Ypres 

Halletoren 

Beffroi,  Belfry  of  Cloth 
Hall 

44 

Kortryk 
Courtrai 

Sint  Maartenstoren 

St.  Martin,  S.  Martin's 

47 

Bergen 
Mons 

Klokketoren 
Beffroi,  Belfry 

44 

Doornyk 
Tournai 

Klokketoren 
Beffroi,  Belfry 

40 

BEST 

CARILLONS  IN   HOLLAND 

TOWN 

Middelburg 
Middleburg 

TOWER 

Abdy 
Abbey 

NUMBER 
OF    BELLS 

41 

Delft 

Nieuwe  Kerk 

40 

Amsterdam 

Paleis 

37 

Utrecht 

Domkerk 

42 

's  Gravenhage,  den  Haag  Groote  Kerk 
The  Hague  S.  James's 

Nymegen,  Nimwegen        Groote  Kerk 


37 


Nimeguen,  Nymwegen 

S.  Stephen's 

40 

Gouda 

Groote  Kerk 

37 

Vlissingen 
Flushing 

Groote  Kerk 
S.  James's 

33 

54  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 


BEST    CARILLONS    IN    HOLLAND— Continued. 


NUMBER 
OF    BELLS 


TOWN  TOWER 

Haarlem  Groote  Kerk  35 


Groningen  Martinikerk  37 

Kampen  Bovenkerk  35 

Generally  speaking,  the  Belgium  arrange- 
ment and  mechanical  adjustment  are  superior 
to  the  Dutch  and  the  effect  produced  is,  there- 
fore, more  satisfactory.  But  those  who  would 
gain  an  adequate  idea  of  what  this  unique 
music  really  is,  should  hear  as  large  a  number 
as  possible  of  the  carillons  just  named  and 
should  hear  them  played  by  a  carillonneur. 
Above  all,  endeavor  should  be  made  to  hear  at 
Mechlin  an  evening  concert  by  Josef  Denyn. 

A  carillon  is  played  in  two  ways: 

I 

Automatically  by  means  of  a  revolving 
cylinder.  Thus  played  a  carillon  may  be 
thought  of  as  a  gigantic  music  box.  Its  exact 
designation  is  then  "Carillon  a  cylindre"  or 
"Carillon  a  tambour."  Before  the  hour  strikes 


<^    <s>. 

O-  Co 
a    ^, 

s  I 


D3 

6 
m 

H 
a 

w 

a 

» 

2 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         55 

and  at  certain  other  intervals  this  cylinder  or 
drum  is  moved  by  a  mechanism  of  its  own 
which  is  released  at  the  proper  moment  by 
the  great  tower-clock.  On  the  hour  music  is 
played  for  a  minute  or  more;  at  the  halves 
and  quarters  the  play  is  for  less  time,  and  in 
some  places  at  the  eighths  there  are  flourishes 
of  a  few  notes. 

Pins  or  studs  of  iron  are  placed  in  holes  on 
the  surface  of  the  cylinder  arranged  so  that 
as  the  cylinder  revolves  they  trip  levers  con- 
nected with  hammers  which  strike  the  outside 
of  the  bells.  Sometimes  there  are  10,000  or 
more  holes  suitable  to  receive  the  pins;  say 
100  rows,  or  measures,  of  100  holes  each. 
Thus  an  unlimited  number  of  tunes  can  be 
played.  In  order  to  secure  the  quick  repeti- 
tion of  a  note  a  single  bell  is  sometimes 
equipped  with  as  many  as  six  hammers.  The 
pins  are  variously  offset  from  their  centres; 
thus  a  bell  may  be  sounded  by  the  use  of  a 
properly  selected  pin  at  any  one  or  all  of  sev- 
eral points  in  a  measure. 


56  CARILLONS    OF 

Tunes  are  set  upon  the  cylinder  by  the  caril- 
lonneur,  and  by  periodic  changing  are  made 
appropriate  to  the  season  of  the  year.  Town 
tradition,  handed  down  for  a  century  or  more, 
sometimes  fixes  these  tunes,  but  more  fre- 
quently the  musical  taste  of  the  carillonneur 
governs. 

A  carillon  is  also  played: 

II 

By  a  bell-master,  or  carillonneur,  using  a 
clavier  or  keyboard  resembling  that  of  a  piano 
or  organ.  Thus  played  a  carillon  may  be 
thought  of  as  a  gigantic  pianoforte  or  organ. 
Its  exact  designation  is  then  "Carillon  a 
clavier."  During  market  hours,  at  festivals, 
and  in  midday  or  evening  concerts,  popular 
songs,  operatic  airs,  national  hymns  and  a 
great  variety  of  other  tunes  are  played  by  the 
carillonneur.  This  playing  by  means  of  the 
clavier  is  often  called  a  carillon  concert. 

Each  key  of  the  clavier  is  connected  by 
lever  and  wire  with  the  clapper  of  its  corre- 


BELGIUM   AND   HOLLAND     57 

sponding  bell.  In  what  is  known  as  the  Bel- 
gian system,  perfected  by  Mr.  Denyn,  each 
clapper  when  at  rest  is  held  by  a  spring  and 
guide  wires  in  an  exactly  defined  position 
close  to  the  inner  sound  bow  and  the  bells 
are  hung  in  parallel  lines,  the  deeper  ones 
more  or  less  inclosed  in  chambers  within  the 
tower.  Generally  in  Holland  the  clappers 
have  neither  springs  nor  guide  wires,  which 
omissions  tend  to  make  their  mechanical 
operation  much  less  accurate.  Often,  too,  the 
bells  there  are  hung  in  circles  or  placed  so 
that  they  are  seen  in  the  tower  lanterns.  These 
practices,  while  they  may  add  to  the  pic- 
turesqueness  of  the  tower,  interfered  with  the 
most  successful  playing,  because  the  keyboard 
connections  are  necessarily  less  direct. 

The  bells  of  the  lowest  octave  and  a  half 
are  connected  also  with  a  pedal  clavier.  This 
is  done  for  the  reason  that  the  larger  bells  re- 
quire a  forceful  stroke  when  it  is  desired  to 
bring  out  their  full  tones,  and  that  this  ar- 
rangement gives  the  bell-master  greater  com- 


58  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

mand  of  the  resources  of  his  instrument  by 
allowing  the  use  both  of  hands  and  of  feet 
and  so  enables  him  to  play  music  in  three  or 
more  parts. 

On  the  manual  clavier,  as  Mr.  Starmer 
points  out,  great  dexterity  of  hand  is  essential, 
for  much  of  the  execution  is  with  a  kind  of 
tremulando  in  which  the  keys  are  played  from 
the  wrist  and  the  elbow.  Scales  and  arpeggios 
are  accomplished  by  a  constant  crossing  of  the 
hands.  The  greater  part  of  the  playing  is  on 
the  smaller  bells  with  occasional  use  of  the 
large  ones.  The  reasons  for  this  are  that  small 
bells  are  more  easily  sounded,  and  that  the 
effect  of  chords  is  much  more  satisfactory  on 
them,  due  to  the  fact  that  on  the  large  bells 
the  harmonic  tones  are  prominent  and,  when 
sounded  together,  frequently  interfere  with 
each  other  in  a  disagreeable  manner.  This  is 
not  the  case  with  the  smaller  bells  as  their 
harmonic  tones  are  too  high  in  the  scale  of 
sounds  to  distress  the  ear.  Chords  are  most 
satisfactory   when   played    arpeggiando    and 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         59 

scale  passages  can  be  rendered  with  great 
rapidity  and  are  most  effective.  When  play- 
ing in  three  or  more  parts,  however,  the  great- 
est care  is  necessary  as  to  the  disposition  of 
the  different  notes  of  the  chords,  the  best  ef- 
fects being  obtained  by  keeping  a  wide  inter- 
val between  the  low  note  and  the  note  next 
above  it.  All  degrees  of  crescendo  and  of 
diminuendo  are  possible.  Vibration  of  the 
bells  does  not  long  persist,  so  that,  apart  from 
the  fact  that  the  effectual  damping  of  bells  is 
practically  an  impossibility,  when  carillons  are 
played  by  an  expert  performer,  there  is  no 
real  necessity  for  such  a  thing.  With  smaller 
bells  the  sound  is  so  quickly  effaced  that  when 
the  effect  of  sustained  chords  is  desired,  it  is 
obtained  by  a  rapid  tremulando,  much  as  in 
pianoforte  playing. 

To  sum  up:  In  the  first  method,  that  of 
automatic  cylinder  play,  the  outer  surface  of 
the  bell  is  struck  by  a  hammer  actuated  by  a 
cylinder  which  operates  in  connection  with 
the  tower-clock.    In  the  second  method,  that 


60  CARILLONS 

of  keyboard  play,  the  inside  of  the  bell  is 
struck  by  the  clapper  actuated  by  a  caril- 
lonneur. 

But  enough  for  the  present  of  the  mechan- 
ism of  the  bells,  and  the  intricacy  of  their  play. 
Above  us,  surmounting  the  topmost  spire  of 
Ghent's  belfry  is  the  gilded  copper  dragon 
which  has  looked  down  upon  many  stirring 
scenes  in  Flemish  history.  There  is  a  legend 
that  the  Crusaders  brought  this  dragon  from 
Constantinople  to  crown  the  belfry  of  Bruges 
and  that  there  it  remained  until  Artevelde, 
victorious,  carried  it  a  prized  trophy  to  Ghent 
where  it  was  again  set  high  above  bells.  As 
we  meditate  and  gaze  upon  the  vast  expanse 
before  descending  to  the  Place  Saint  Bavon, 
there  comes  vividly  to  mind  that  day  when 
'tis  said  Charles  V,  standing  where  we  stand, 
and  beholding  the  splendid  panorama,  an- 
swered Alva's  cruel  suggestion  that  the  city 
should  be  destroyed, with:  "Combien  faudrait- 
il  de  peaux  d'Espagne  pour  faire  un  Gant  de 
cette  grandeur?" 


CHAPTER   IV 

"In  the  ancient  town  of  Bruges/* 

Longfellow 

WESTWARD  across  the  even  Flem- 
ish plain,  abloom  with  intensive 
farming,  it  is  a  short  trip  from 
Ghent  to  Bruges,  its  ancient  rival,  till  recently 
famous  for  its  quaintness  and  quiet.  Once 
inhabited  by  energetic  and  independent  mer- 
chants and  traders,  the  city's  central  feature 
is  the  towering  belfry  rising  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Groote  Markt.  Standing  as  a  conspic- 
uous emblem  of  municipal  liberties,  the  bel- 
fry is  characteristic  of  Flemish  towns. 

To  say  that  belfry  in  its  origin  is  not  con- 
nected with  bell  appears  to  deny  what  is 
manifestly  true.  The  fact  is  however,  that 
they  have  a  purely  chance  resemblance.  The 
Oxford  Dictionary  says: 

"Belfry:  Pointing  to  a  late  Latin  type  'berefredus,' 
adopted  from  Teutonic  'bergfrid.'     In  English,  its  ac- 

61 


62  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

ceptance  was  doubtless  due  to  popular  association  with 
'bell'  and  the  particular  association  which  was  in  conse- 
quence given  to  the  word.  The  meaning,  has  passed  from 
a  movable  tower  used  by  besiegers  and  besieged,  to  a 
tower  to  protect  watchmen,  a  watch  tower,  beacon 
tower,  alarum  bell  tower,  bell  tower,  place  where  a  bell 
is  hung.  'Frid,'  it  is  generally  agreed,  is  a  form  of  'fridu,' 
peace,  security,  shelter;  and  'berg-en'  means  to  protect, 
defend;  the  whole  meaning  'protecting  or  defensive  place 
of  shelter.'  " 

Thus  these  towers  were  symbols  of  muni- 
cipal freedom  and  represented  to  the  eye  and 
ear  the  idea  of  civic  solidarity.  Grant  Allen, 
in  "The  European  Tour,"  analysing  the  char- 
acter of  the  art  of  Belgium,  remarks: 

"These  Flemish  belfries  are  in  themselves  very  inter- 
esting relics,  because  they  were  the  first  symbols  of 
corporate  existence  and  municipal  power  which  every 
town  wished  to  erect  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  use  of 
the  bell  was  to  summon  the  citizens  to  arms  in  defence 
of  their  rights,  or  to  counsel  for  their  common  liberties. 
Every  Teutonic  burgher  community  desired  to  wring  the 
right  of  erecting  such  a  belfry  from  its  feudal  lord;  and 
those  of  Bruges  and  Ghent  are  still  majestic  memorials 
of  the  freedom-loving  wool-staplers  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  By  the  side  of  the  Belfry  stands  the  Cloth  Hall, 
representing  the  trade  from  which  the  town  derived  its 
wealth." 


Bruges:  The  Belfry 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         63 

The  crown  of  every  belfry  was  a  carillon. 
The  belfry  and  its  crown  were  the  proud  pos- 
session of  every  prosperous  community.  And 
today,  wherever  the  carillon  may  hang,  its 
bells  belong  to  the  town  and  the  bell-master 
is  a  municipal  officer. 

Neither  in  Holland  nor  in  Belgium  have  I 
found  a  place  where  the  carillon  and  the  tower 
in  which  it  hangs,  even  though  it  be  a  church 
spire,  are  not  controlled  and  maintained  by 
the  municipal  authorities.  It  is  true  that  in 
some  instances,  carillons  are  played  and  that 
often  the  great  separate  bells  are  rung  for 
church  services  or  in  religious  functions,  but 
always  the  dominating  power  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  bells  is  civic  and  the  religious  ele- 
ment, if  it  exists  at  all,  is  entirely  subordinate. 

Reviewing  Rodenbach's  late  Brugian 
novels,  Dr.  Chatterton-Hill  says: 

"Joris  Borluut  is  the  carillonneur  of  Bruges.  These 
are  grave  and  important  functions,  which  cannot  be 
entrusted  to  the  first  comer.  All  the  feelings  and  emo- 
tions and  experiences  of  an  old  city,  the  whole  of  the 
priceless  moral  treasure  accumulated  during  many  cen- 


64  CARILLONS    OF 

turies,  must  find  expression  in  the  music  of  the  belfry 
bells.  Success  and  failure,  smiles  and  tears,  illusions  and 
realities,  must  all  be  blended  here  into  one  sweet  har- 
mony. A  consummate  artist  is  essential,  but  one  who 
understands  Bruges  is  essential  also,  for  the  difficult  task 
is  assigned  him  of  concretising,  so  to  speak,  the  soul  of 
the  Flemish  town.  In  the  merry  laughter  and  plaintive 
sighing  of  the  old  bells,  the  citizens  of  Bruges  require  to 
find  the  echo  of  that  which  they  feel  within  themselves. 

"Rodenbach  has  resuscitated  the  soul  of  Bruges;  he 
has  helped  us  not  only  to  hear,  but  to  be  penetrated  by, 
the  infinitely  sad  and  wonderfully  sweet  music  which 
vibrates  in  the  air  of  the  old  Flemish  city.  It  brings 
back  to  us  the  memory  of  the  glorious  past,  brilliant  with 
hope,  of  a  world  that  was  and  that  is  no  more,  whose 
splendour  was  great  but  ephemeral,  and  which  survives 
only  in  venerable  and  moss-grown  ruins." 

If  Ghent's  bells  are  easiest  of  access,  Bruges' 
are  most  celebrated  in  verse.  It  was  here  that 
Longfellow  came  under  the  spell  of  the  caril- 
lon. At  once  his  imagination  was  awakened 
and  we  foresee  his  poem  in  these  brief  entries 
in  his  diary  of  1842: 

"May  30.  In  the  evening  took  the  railway  from  Ghent 
to  Bruges.  Stopped  at  La  Fleur  de  Ble,  attracted  by  the 
name,  and  found  it  a  good  hotel.  It  was  not  yet  night; 
and  I  strolled  through  the  fine  old  streets  and  felt  myself 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     65 

a  hundred  years  old.  The  chimes  seemed  to  be  ringing 
incessantly;  and  the  air  of  repose  and  antiquity  was  de- 
lightful. *  *  *  Oh,  those  chimes,  those  chimes!  how 
deliciously  they  lull  one  to  sleep!  The  little  bells,  with 
their  clear,  liquid  notes,  like  the  voices  of  boys  in  a 
choir,  and  the  solemn  bass  of  the  great  bell  tolling  in, 
like  the  voice  of  a  friar! 

"May  31.  Rose  before  five  and  climbed  the  high  bel- 
fry which  was  once  crowned  by  the  gilded  copper  dragon 
now  at  Ghent.  The  carillon  of  forty-eight  bells;  the  lit- 
tle chamber  in  the  tower;  the  machinery,  like  a  huge 
barrel-organ,  with  keys  like  a  musical  instrument  for  the 
carillonneur ;  the. view  from  the  tower;  the  singing  of 
swallows  with  the  chimes;  the  fresh  morning  air;  the 
mist  in  the  horizon;  the  red  roofs  far  below;  the  canal, 
like  a  silver  clasp,  linking  the  city  with  the  sea, — how 
much  to  remember!" 

The  poem,  of  which  "Carillon"  is  the  first 
part,  was  probably  begun  there,  his  editor 
says,  and  finished  later  when  he  was  again  at 
Bruges  on  his  return  home.  More  than  any 
other  literary  utterance  its  verses  have  drawn 
English-speaking  travellers  to  this  unique 
music.  How  wonderfully  his  genius  gives 
the  scene  at  night,  when  silence  perfects  the 
sound  of  the  bells. 


66  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

CARILLON 

In  the  ancient  town  of  Bruges, 
In  the  quaint  old  Flemish  city, 
As  the  evening  shades  descended, 
Low  and  loud  and  sweetly  blended, 
Low  at  times  and  loud  at  times, 
And  changing  like  a  poet's  rhymes, 
Rang  the  beautiful  wild  chimes 
From  the  belfry  in  the  market 
Of  the  ancient  town  of  Bruges. 

Then,  with  deep  sonorous  clangor 
Calmly  answering  their  sweet  anger, 
When  the  wrangling  bells  had  ended, 
Slowly  struck  the  clock  eleven, 
And,  from  out  the  silent  heaven, 
Silence  on  the  town  descended. 
Silence,  silence  everywhere, 
On  the  earth  and  in  the  air, 
Save  that  footsteps  here  and  there 
Of  some  burgher  home  returning, 
By  the  street  lamps  faintly  burning, 
For  a  moment  woke  the  echoes 
Of  the  ancient  town  of  Bruges. 

But  amid  my  broken  slumbers 
Still  I  heard  those  magic  numbers, 
As  they  loud  proclaimed  the  flight 
And  stolen  marches  of  the  night; 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         67 

Till  their  chimes  in  sweet  collision 
Mingled  with  each  wandering  vision, 
Mingled  with  the  fortune-telling 
Gipsy-bands  of  dreams  and  fancies, 
Which  amid  the  waste  expanses 
Of  the  silent  land  of  trances 
Have  their  solitary  dwelling; 
All  else  seemed  asleep  in  Bruges, 
In  the  quaint  old  Flemish  city. 

And  I  thought  how  like  these  chimes 
Are  the  poet's  airy  rhymes, 
All  his  rhymes  and  roundelays, 
His  conceits,  and  songs,  and  ditties, 
From  the  belfry  of  his  brain, 
Scattered  downward,  though  in  vain, 
On  the  roofs  and  stones  of  cities! 
For  by  night  the  drowsy  ear 
Under  its  curtains  cannot  hear, 
And  by  day  men  go  their  ways, 
Hearing  the  music  as  they  pass, 
But  deeming  it  no  more,  alas! 
Than  the  hollow  sound  of  brass. 

Yet,  perchance  a  sleepless  wight, 
Lodging  at  some  humble  inn 
In  the  narrow  lanes  of  life, 
When  the  dusk  and  hush  of  night 
Shut  out  the  incessant  din 
Of  daylight  and  its  toil  and  strife, 


68  CARILLONS    OF 

May  listen  with  a  calm  delight 
To  the  poet's  melodies, 
Till  he  hears,  or  dreams  he  hears, 
Intermingled  with  the  song, 
Thoughts  that  he  has  cherished  long; 
Hears  amid  the  chime  and  singing 
The  bells  of  his  own  village  ringing, 
And  wakes,  and  finds  his  slumberous  eyes 
Wet  with  most  delicious  tears. 

Thus  dreamed  I,  as  by  night  I  lay 
In  Bruges,  at  the  Fleur  de  Ble, 
Listening  with  a  wild  delight 
To  the  chimes  that,  through  the  night, 
Rang  their  changes  from  the  belfry 
Of  that  quaint  old  Flemish  city. 

The  Fleur  de  Ble  has  disappeared  and  few 
know  even  where  it  was.  Searching  recently, 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  discover  its  site,  now 
occupied  by  the  theatre  of  the  city.  Looking 
over  the  trees  of  the  gardens  to  the  south,  one 
sees  the  belfry  high  above  all  and  hears,  often 
undisturbed  by  other  sounds,  its  music. 

The  evening  sky  at  our  first  arrival  in 
Bruges  was  rosy  with  a  sunset  glow  which 
lingered  until  nearly  midnight.  As  we  took  a 


Bruges:  The  Bells 

This  shows  bells  equipped  with  many  hammers  to  allow  quick  repetition 
of  the  same  note  in  automatic  play 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     69 

late  supper  we  could  hear  at  frequent  inter- 
vals the  agreeable  jangling  of  distant  bells  and, 
after  finishing  our  meal,  we  went  out  into  the 
dusky  street.  Then  the  mystery  and  the  music 
enticed  us  forth.  As  we  wandered  through  the 
windings  of  the  narrow  echoing  streets,  nt>w 
a  flourish,  now  an  irregular  snatch  of  song, 
was  wafted  to  us.  The  notes  came  so  clear 
that  at  every  turn  we  looked  to  see  the  belfry. 
Thus  led  by  the  carillon's  music,  we  at  length 
came  out  in  a  great  moonlit  square.  Here  all 
was  silent  except  for  the  steps  of  an  infrequent 
passer  and  the  hum  of  faint  music  and  voices 
issuing  from  the  row  of  estaminets  that  form 
the  north  side  of  the  Groote  Markt.  From 
somewhere  came  the  plaintive  notes  of  a 
zither,  the  only  distinguishable  sound.  At 
the  foot  of  the  monument  in  the  centre  of  the 
square,  we  waited  for  the  hour.  Presently  a 
ripple  and  then  a  burst  of  tune,  inaccurate  of 
tone  and  time,  but  mysteriously  beautiful, 
coming  from  the  dark  tower  and  floating  into 
every  nook  of  the  silent  city.    The  tune  over, 


70  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

a  deep  bell  struck  ten  and  we  turned  home- 
ward. 

Since  that  summer,  Bruges  has  suffered  an 
awakening,  which  though  it  may  have  given 
satisfaction  to  the  inhabitants,  has,  alas,  de- 
stroyed a  certain  repose  charming  to  trav- 
ellers. Electric  cars  now  pass  through  the 
Groote  Markt  and  "Bruges  en  avant"  has  be- 
come the  slogan  of  "Bruges  la  morte."  But 
with  these  innovations,  the  carillon  has  not 
been  neglected  and,  happily,  the  greatest  of 
bell-masters,  Josef  Denyn,  was  summoned  to 
give  his  advice.  Under  his  supervision,  dur- 
ing the  winter  of  1913-14  the  keyboard  was 
reconstructed,  springs  were  placed  behind  the 
clappers  of  the  bells,  and  adjustments  were 
made  which  greatly  increase  the  ability  of  the 
carillonneur  to  produce  effects  befitting  the 
fame  of  the  belfry. 

The  carillon  consists  of  47  bells  made  by 
Joris  Dumery  of  Antwerp  in  1743,  his  bells 
succeeding  those  destroyed  by  fire  in  1741. 
Mr.   Starmer  in   1905  describes  the  Bruges 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         71 

carillon  as  consisting  of  four  octaves  G  to  G 
with  low  A  flat  and  B  flat  missing.  Mr. 
Denyn  after  recently  improving  it  said: 

"The  big  bell,  the  do  of  the  keyboard,  is  an  A  going 
towards  A  flat.  Its  tone  is  nearly  one  whole  tone  higher 
than  that  of  'Salvator,'  the  base  of  the  carillon  at  Mech- 
lin. In  its  principal  accord,  do,  the  Bruges  carillon  is 
not  quite  in  tune ;  it  is  entirely  out  of  tune  in  the  octaves 
of  mi. 

"According  to  the  disposition  of  bells  and  keyboard,  I 
do  not  play  as  easily  as  at  Mechlin,  for  at  Bruges  the 
small  bells  are  distant  about  ten  metres  from  the  key- 
board. This  hinders  securing  responsive  connections,  and 
so  the  firmness  of  the  playing  suffers.  But  the  keyboard 
itself  is  now  the  most  perfect  anywhere.  What  a  pity 
that  the  mellow-toned  bells  are  not  all  quite  in  tune. 
As  to  the  smaller  bells,  I  much  prefer  my  Mechlin  ones. 
They  may  be  somewhat  harsher  of  sound,  but  surely 
they  are  more  silvery  (i.e.  brilliant)  and  I  think  I  can 
get  better  effects  with  them." 

So  this  quaint  old  Flemish  city  is  rising 
from  its  sleep  of  almost  three  hundred  years. 
And  if  we  should  climb  the  belfry,  we  should 
hear  in  daytime  now  sounds  of  a  greater  ac- 
tivity than  aroused  Longfellow  from  his  mus- 
ing there  more  than  half  a  century  ago.    As 


72  CARILLONS    OF 

we  read  the  later  verses  of  "The  Belfry  of 
Bruges,"  its  pictures  conceived  as  he  stood  on 
the  lofty  balcony  near  the  bells,  it  is  not  alone 
his  own  visions  that  become  real.  His  art  pro- 
duces in  us  also  a  reflective  mood  and  other 
scenes  and  events  in  history  associated  with 
bell  tower  after  bell  tower  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries come  to  mind. 

THE  BELFRY  OF  BRUGES 

In  the  market-place  of  Bruges  stands  the  belfry  old  and 

brown ; 
Thrice  consumed  and  thrice  rebuilded,   still  it  watches 

o'er  the  town. 

As  the  summer  morn  was  breaking,  on  that  lofty  tower 

I  stood, 
And  the  world  threw  off  the  darkness,  like  the  weeds 

of  widowhood. 

Thick  with  towns  and  hamlets  studded,  and  with  streams 

and  vapours  grey, 
Like  a  shield  embossed  with  silver,  round  and  vast  the 

landscape  lay. 

At  my  feet  the  city  slumbered.  From  its  chimneys,  here 
and  there, 

Wreaths  of  snow-white  smoke,  ascending,  vanished,  ghost- 
like, into  air. 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     73 

Not  a  sound  rose  from  the  city  at  that  early  morning 

hour, 
But  I  heard  a  heart  of  iron  beating  in  the  ancient  tower. 

From  their  nests  beneath  the  rafters  sang  the  swallows 

wild  and  high ; 
And  the  world,  beneath  me  sleeping,  seemed  more  distant 

than  the  sky. 

Then  most  musical  and  solemn,  bringing  back  the  olden 
times, 

With  their  strange,  unearthly  changes  rang  the  melan- 
choly chimes, 

Like  the  psalms  from  some  old  cloister,  when  the  nuns 

sing  in  the  choir; 
And  the  great  bell  tolled  among  them,  like  the  chanting 

of  a  friar. 

Visions  of  the  days  departed,  shadowy  phantoms  filled 

my  brain; 
They  who  live  in  history  only,  seemed  to  walk  the  earth 

again. 


I  beheld  the  Flemish  weavers,  with  Namur  and  Juliers 

bold, 
Marching  homeward  from  the  bloody  battle  of  the  Spurs 

of  Gold; 


74  TOWER    MUSIC 

Saw   the  fight  at   Minnewater,   saw  the  White   Hoods 

moving  west, 
Saw  great  Artevelde  victorious  scale  the  Golden  Dragon's 

nest. 

And   again   the  whiskered   Spaniard   all   the  land   with 

terror  smote  ; 
And  again  the  wild  alarum  sounded  from  the  tocsin's 

throat ; 

Till  the  bell  of  Ghent  responded  o'er  lagoon  and  dike 

of  sand, 
"I  am  Roland!     I  am  Roland!  there  is  victory  in  the 

land!" 

Then  the  sound  of  drums  aroused  me.     The  awakened 

city's  roar 
Chased  the  phantoms  I  had  summoned  back  into  their 

graves  once  more. 

Hours  had  passed  away  like  minutes;  and,  before  I  was 

aware, 
Lo!  the  shadow  of  the  belfry  crossed  the  sun-illumined 

square. 


CHAPTER   V 

"Le  campane  di  questi  paesi  servono  per  musica;  hanno 
una  temper atur a  soave  ed  una  consonanza  armonica." 

Giorgio  Giorgi 

THE  word  carillon  is  hardly  used  in 
the  land  where  carillons  thrive.  In 
Holland  the  usual  name  for  the  in- 
strument is  klokkenspel  (literally,  bellplay), 
while  in  Belgium  it  is  beiaard.  The  bell- 
master  is  known  as  klokkenist  or  klokken- 
speler  (with  many  variations)  and  beiaardier. 
The  corresponding  verbs,  bespelen,  beiaarden, 
and  carillonner,  refer  to  clavier  play  only. 
Carillon,  at  first  quatrillon,  is  of  course 
adopted  from  the  French  and  comes,  accord- 
ing to  Littre,  from  medieval  Latin  quadril- 
lionem.  Thus  the  name  of  the  carillon  is 
traced  to  the  four  diatonic  bells  which  made 
up  the  tintinnabulum  of  the  twelfth  century. 
More  definitely,  however,  the  instrument  as 

75 


76  CARILLONS    OF 

we  know  it,  had  its  origin  in  a  mechanical 
arrangement  of  sets  of  small  bells  in  connec- 
tion with  the  clocks  which  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury came  to  be  an  essential  part  of  the  muni- 
cipal towers  of  the  Low  Countries.  This 
mechanism,  striking  the  small  bells  just  be- 
fore the  hour,  announced  that  the  heavy  hour 
bell  was  about  to  sound.  It  was  not  long  be- 
fore more  than  four  bells  were  used,  and  as 
the  number  increased,  the  mechanism  was  ar- 
ranged to  play  a  little  tune.  Thus  we  reach 
the  8  or  10  bells  of  the  Flemish  "voorslag"  or 
"forestroke,"  obviously  so  called  from  its  play 
before  the  hour.  To  possess  a  "voorslag"  was 
an  indication  of  municipal  progress  and  the 
principal  Flemish  towns  were  soon  thus 
equipped.  Owing  to  this  periodic  playing, 
which  before  long  preceded  the  strokes  of  the 
half-hour  as  well,  bell  music  came  to  be  a 
distinctive  feature  of  the  Low  Countries. 

As  prosperity  increased  and  as  taste  devel- 
oped, still  more  satisfactory  musical  effects 
were  sought.    Bells  were  added  to  the  "voor- 


Edam:  The  Bell  Tower 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     77 

slag" ;  all  the  intervals  of  the  chromatic  scale 
were  supplied;  and  the  barrel  of  the  playing 
device  was  enlarged  until  each  quarter  hour 
had  its  share  of  notes,  and  the  hour  tunes  lasted 
a  minute  or  more.  This  music  was  something 
that  everyone  could  enjoy  without  stopping 
work.  He  did  not  go  to  it;  it  came  to  him. 
It  suited  both  his  industrious  disposition  and 
his  reposeful  temperament. 

The  clavier  or  manual  keyboard  was  com- 
ing into  use  with  chromatic  stringed  instru- 
ments. What  more  natural  than  that  it  should 
be  used,  in  addition  to  the  automatic  playing 
mechanism  up  to  this  time  solely  employed, 
with  sets  of  bells  that  had  all  the  semitones? 
Nor  was  it  strange  that  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  constantly  greater  number  of 
bells,  and  their  increased  weight,  a  pedal  key- 
board should  soon  be  invented  to  supplement 
the  manual.  It  is  not  known  when  the  great 
chromatic  expansion  occurred,  nor  can  we 
tell  where  claviers,  in  connection  with  bells, 
first  appeared.    It  seems  to  have  been  a  grad- 


78  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

ual  development,  an  outgrowth  of  the  love  of 
the  people  for  a  music  which,  as  it  decorated 
the  passing  of  time,  welcomed  all,  the  high 
and  the  low,  the  artist  and  the  artisan,  the 
man  in  his  shop,  the  woman  at  her  home,  as 
participants  in  the  pleasure  it  could  give. 

The  researches  of  Dr.  van  Doorslaer  as  to 
the  origin  and  development  of  the  art  admi- 
rably cover  the  early  days  of  the  Belgian  field. 
Concerning  later  times  and  Dutch  bells,  in- 
formation has  been  gained  from  many  other 
sources. 

Jan  van  Leiden,  a  Carmelite  prior,  writing 
in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  about 
the  abbey  of  Egmond  in  Holland,  says  that  a 
certain  Franco,  abbot  there  from  1 182  to  1206, 
had  a  "klokkespel"  made  for  the  gateway. 
Whatever  truth  there  may  be  in  this  tale, 
which  has  been  mentioned  by  Gregoir  and 
others,  nothing  has  been  discovered  to  show 
how  many  bells  there  were  at  Egmond  or  that 
they  were  chromatic  or  how  they  were  played. 

The  first  trustworthy  information  is  found 


THE    LOW   COUNTRIES         79 

toward  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century 
when  great  clocks  began  to  be  placed  in  the 
towers  of  the  Low  Countries.  Middleburg 
had  a  clock  in  1371 ;  Mechlin  got  one  for 
Saint  Rombold's  tower  in  1372;  and  Ghent, 
one  for  the  belfry  in  1376.  There  are  many 
reasons  for  believing  that  even  thus  early  the 
striking  of  the  hour  was  preceded  by  a  "voor- 
slag"  on  the  little  bells  called  then  in  Flemish, 
"appeelkens."  Records  of  Mons,  1382,  Tour- 
nai,  1392,  and  Ghent,  141 2,  mention  such  bells. 
It  is  at  this  same  period  that  the  custom  of 
sounding  bells  as  a  part  of  the  celebration  of 
joyous  events  was  established.  This  kind  of 
playing  is  mentioned  in  the  municipal  ac- 
counts of  Mechlin  in  1373.  The  use  of  the 
little  bells  extended  during  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury and  various  names  were  applied  to  them. 
Aalst  obtained  some  "appeelkens"  in  1460  and 
Oudenaarde  got  three  in  1496,  spoken  of  as 
"clocxkins." 

These  primitive  chimes   continued  to  be 
used  during  the  fifteenth  century  and  it  was 


80  CARILLONS    OF 

not  until  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  that 
they  had  been  developed  sufficiently  to  give 
a  tune  with  variations.  Van  der  Straeten  tells 
of  some  bells  which  in  1501  at  Oudenaarde 
played  the  motives  of  the  "Veni  Sancte  Spi- 
ritus"  and  of  the  "Peccatores."  He  also  gives 
a  quotation  which  proves  that  the  clavier  was 
already  in  use  there  in  15 10. 

Gregoir  states  that  Oudenaarde  had  "un  jeu 
de  cloches"  in  1409,  Antwerp  in  1430,  Lou- 
vain  in  1434,  and  Lier  in  1495,  and  asso- 
ciates these  with  the  claim  for  the  first  caril- 
lon, but  he  mentions  no  authority  for  these 
dates  nor  does  he  define  "un  jeu  de  cloches." 
In  all  probability  these  bells  were  what  have 
been  mentioned  as  "clocxkins." 

Louvain,  we  know,  had  8  bells  in  1525; 
Oudenburg  10,  in  1539;  and  Ghent  16,  in 
1543.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  Netherlands 
progress  was  only  slightly  slower.  Hoorn  had 
10  bells  in  1528  and  Alkmaar  11,  in  1541. 
Both  Leiden  and  Groningen  had  carillons  in 
1577,  and  Gouda  in  1578.     Arnemuiden  by 


SW 


V         ( 


Oudexaarde:  The  Town  Hall  Tower 
Sketch  by  Jean  Baes 


BELGIUM   AND   HOLLAND     81 

1583  possessed  19  bells  and  those  at  Utrecht 
were  already  widely  known  in  1586. 

With  the  further  enlargement  of  carillons 
came  the  invention  of  the  pedal  keyboard. 
This  was  in  use  at  Mechlin  in  1583,  and  prob- 
ably the  improvement  was  made  elsewhere  at 
about  the  same  period.  The  drum  or  cylin- 
der for  automatic  play  was  originally  of  wood 
and  at  this  period  of  iron.  Jan  Cal  of  Nime- 
guen  first  used  copper  in  a  drum  which  he 
placed  in  the  Nieuwe  Kerk  at  Delft  in  1663. 
Since  the  adoption  of  the  pedal  keyboard, 
carillons  have  undergone  changes  only  in  the 
improvement  of  the  details  of  their  mechan- 
ism and  in  the  increase  of  the  number  of  their 
bells. 

Thus  upon  the  basis  of  a  few  bells  giving 
simple  songs  in  connection  with  the  striking 
mechanism  of  great  clocks,  we  see  developed 
in  a  century,  a  noble  musical  instrument,  well 
fitted  for  its  lofty  place  in  municipal  towers, 
enduring  through  hundreds  of  years,  and  giv- 
ing delight  to  thousands. 


82  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

As  to  the  requirements  of  a  good  instrument 
to-day,  I  quote  Josef  Denyn : 

"A  carillon  to  give  satisfaction,  however  played,  must 
have  as  a  minimum  28  bells  with  the  bass  bell  of  not 
less  than  550  pounds.  It  should  have  its  bells  hung  in 
right  lines,  the  big  ones,  if  possible,  somewhat  more 
inclosed  than  the  smaller,  with  the  bell  loft  200  or  300 
feet  high.  Towers  with  open  tops,  lanterns,  in  which 
the  bells  hang  in  circles,  picturesque  as  they  may  be, 
cannot  possess  mechanically  perfect  carillons,  for  the 
connection  between  keyboard  and  bells  is  not  direct 
enough  and  there  is,  therefore,  a  loss  of  the  control  needed 
to  produce  delicate  effects.  This  is  a  marked  fault  in 
numerous  Belgian  and  Dutch  carillons." 

The  Denyn  improvements,  which  have  been 
the  contribution  of  both  father  and  son,  Adolf 
and  Josef,  have  been  specially  directed  to  se- 
curing a  fine  adjustment  of  the  connections 
to  the  clapper  by  means  of  guide  wires  and 
springs  and  to  keeping  each  clapper  in  exact 
position  with  relation  to  the  sound  bow  of  its 
bell.  No  Dutch  carillon  yet  has  these  im- 
provements, though  several  towns  have  re- 
cently taken  counsel  of  Mr.  Denyn  in  the  mat- 
ter and  are  likely  to  follow  his  advice.  Among 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         83 

these  are  the  towns  of  Nimeguen,  Zutfen, 
and  Arnhem;  and  the  carillonneur  at  Gouda, 
Mr.  van  Zuylen,  has  publicly  advocated  these 
improvements,  which  have  already  been  made 
in  all  the  larger  Belgian  carillons. 

From  the  sixteenth  to  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, carillons  were  often  treated  as  spoils  of 
war,  and  especial  havoc  was  wrought  at  the 
end  of  that  period  when  the  French  invaders 
suppressed  the  abbeys.  Bells  captured  in  war 
were  sometimes  recast  into  cannon  or  carried 
away  as  trophies,  or  again  they  were  ransomed 
as  a  town's  most  prized  possession. 

When  a  city  bought  a  carillon  it  was  for- 
mally welcomed  on  its  arrival  by  burgomaster 
and  people,  and  amid  rejoicings,  the  bells 
were  consecrated  with  elaborate  ceremony. 
Men  and  women  of  noble  rank  stood  sponsors. 
Carillons  then  were  in  fact  esteemed  an  essen- 
tial part  of  the  useful  equipment  as  well  as 
of  the  artistic  adornment  of  a  progressive 
Netherlandish  city.  Item  after  item  in  old  rec- 
ords show  how  important  a  place  they  occu- 


84  CARILLONS    OF 

pied.  Their  care,  their  proper  playing,  their 
enlargement,  were  constantly  under  discus- 
sion. Even  the  referendum  was  employed  to 
decide  questions  relating  to  them.  Towns 
were  rivals  for  preeminence  in  the  carillon 
art  and  bell-masters  and  bell-makers  were 
esteemed  citizens  of  great  consequence. 

Barbiere  in  "La  Capitulation  *  *  *  d'An- 
vers,"  1585,  tells  us  that  one  lot  of  59  bells 
was  carried  off  from  Brussels  to  Spain,  of 
which  "32  formed  a  harmony  like  an  organ 
and  could  be  played  by  means  of  a  clavier." 

When  Louis  XIV  captured  Mons  in  1691, 
a  formal  treaty  was  concluded  between  the 
council  on  the  one  part  and  Marshal  d'Hu- 
mieres  on  the  other  for  the  ransom  of  the 
carillon.  The  bells  were  thus  saved  at  that 
time,  but  during  the  French  invasion  in  1793, 
all  were  taken  but  one.  This  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  decree  of  the  National  Conven- 
tion at  Paris  on  July  23,  1793,  "That  there 
shall  be  left  only  one  bell  in  each  parish 
church;  that  all  the  others  shall  be  placed  at 


Mons:  The  Belfry 
Sketch  by  Jean  Baes 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     85 

the  disposition  of  the  Executive  Council 
which  shall  provide  for  taking  them  to  the 
nearest  foundry  that  they  may  be  there  made 
into  cannon." 

During  the  siege  of  Maastricht  in  1676, 
cannon  balls  having  struck  the  Town  Hall, 
the  council  ordered  that  the  bells  should  be 
dismounted  in  order  that  "the  carillon,  much 
praised  by  the  musicians  of  this  time  may  not 
be  destroyed."  Brussels  had  a  carillon  ruined 
in  the  bombardment  of  1695,  but  the  magis- 
trates concluded  to  buy  a  new  one  in  171 1,  for, 
as  they  said,  "It  is  for  the  honour  of  a  court 
town  like  Brussels  to  have  as  one  of  its  orna- 
ments a  perfect  carillon  which  can  serve  not 
only  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  townspeople 
but  also  to  give  diversion  to  strangers  who  are 
often  attracted  to  a  town  by  the  harmony  of 
a  carillon,  which  thus  both  adds  to  the  town's 
renown  and  also  increases  its  business." 

Old  records  of  Ath,  Belgium,  give  popular 
votes  upon  many  details  of  carillon  adminis- 
tration.   Items  in  the  accounts  of  Mechlin  in 


86  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

1682  show  that  a  quarter  cask  of  Rhine  wine, 
and  red  ribbons  for  the  clappers  and  other 
accompaniments  were  bought  for  the  fetes 
which  took  place  when  the  33  bells  of  Notre 
Dame  were  christened.  A  list  is  also  given 
of  the  god-fathers  and  god-mothers,  together 
with  the  elaborate  names  they  bestowed  on 
each  bell.  These  bells  were  seized  by  the 
French  in  1798  and  were  sent  "pour  aug- 
menter  la  pate  des  canons  de  Creuzot." 

When  the  drum  of  the  new  carillon  of 
Bruges  was  to  be  installed  in  1746,  the  people 
themselves  drew  it  through  the  streets  to  the 
belfry,  and  the  second  of  February,  when  it 
first  played,  was  made  a  general  holiday. 

John  V  of  Portugal  visited  the  Nether- 
lands about  1730  and  was  so  delighted  with 
carillon  music  that  he  determined  to  have  a 
set  of  bells  for  his  sumptuous  palace  then 
building  at  Mafra.  The  price  having  been 
ascertained,  it  was  guardedly  suggested  by  his 
treasurer  that  the  cost  was  great.  This  im- 
plied criticism  is  said  to  have  so  offended  the 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         87 

self-esteem  of  the  monarch  that  he  replied: 
"Nao  julguei  que  era  tao  barato;  quero  dois" 
— "I  did  not  think  it  would  be  so  cheap;  I 
wish  two."  And  these  he  got,  for  two  carillons 
of  48  bells  each,  played  by  clavier  and  clock- 
work are  still  in  use  at  Mafra. 


CHAPTER   VI 

"Ik  verhef  myn  toon  in  7  zing  en 
Aen  den  Aemstel  en  het  Y, 
Op  den  geest  van  Hemony."  Vondel 

TWO  brothers  attract  our  attention  as 
picturesque  figures  in  the  Nether- 
lands in  the  golden  age  of  carillon 
making.  Their  genius  and  skill  have  made 
the  name  of  Hemony  particularly  distin- 
guished in  the  art.  Of  Frans,  the  elder,  Von- 
del, the  great  Netherlandish  poet,  expressed 
his  admiration  in  verse,  singing  "of  one  who 
so  skilfully  founds  his  bells  that  their  notes 
charm  our  ear  and  make  us  wish  to  dance  a 
bell-dance  on  the  airy  tower-galleries."  Of 
Pieter,  the  younger  brother,  we  know  through 
correspondence  lately  discovered  and  through 
his  other  writings,  that  he  was  one  of  the 
active  spirits  of  his  day,  warm  in  friendship 
and  keen  in  controversy. 
The  Hemonys  were  natives  of  Lorraine,  but 

88 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     89 

early  established  themselves  at  Zutfen.  While 
of  moderate  education,  they  were  excellent 
craftsmen,  producing  bells  of  peculiar  beauty 
of  form  and  decoration,  and  possessed  a  mar- 
vellous faculty  for  tuning  bells.  The  corre- 
spondence of  Pieter  written  in  a  mongrel 
tongue,  half  Teutonic  and  half  French,  shows 
that  they  were  men  of  great  business  acumen 
and  that  the  product  of  their  foundries  was 
sought  throughout  their  own  and  other  coun- 
tries. It  is  their  bells  that  remain  predom- 
inant in  the  towers  of  the  Low  Countries  to- 
day. Frans  Hemony  lived  from  1597  to  1667 
and  Pieter  from  16 19  to  1680.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  notice  their  contemporaries  in  the 
Netherlands.  Such  consideration  will  indi- 
cate that  the  carillon  was  the  manifestation 
in  music  of  the  spirit  of  a  people  who  at 
the  same  time  were  showing  great  genius 
in  many  other  directions.  Rembrandt,  ver 
Meer,  Rubens,  van  Dyck,  Frans  Hals,  and 
Pieter  de  Hooch  all  lived  at  this  period. 
Likewise  Lieven  de  Kay,  the  master  builder, 


90  TOWER   MUSIC   IN 

and  Visscher,  the  famous  engraver,  and  Von- 
del,  the  dramatist  and  poet.  Tromp  and  de 
Ruyter  were  winning  their  naval  victories, 
and  Grotius  was  writing  his  great  works  on 
international  law. 

The  brothers  Hemony  made  their  first  caril- 
lon in  1645  for  the  Winehouse  tower  at  Zut- 
fen,  and  it  was  so  satisfactory  that  the  city 
authorities  issued  the  following  testimonial: 

"We,  the  Burgomaster,  Schepens,  and  Councillors  of 
the  city  of  Zutfen,  hereby  certify,  witness,  and  declare 
for  the  honest  truth :  that  as  an  Ornament  to  the  city  as 
well  as  for  the  Benefit  of  the  citizens  we  have  deemed 
it  proper  and  useful  to  have  a  carillon  made  for  the 
Winehouse  tower,  standing  on  the  market  square,  for 
which  purpose  presented  themselves  the  Worthy  and 
Skilful  Master  Founders  Frans  and  Pieter  Hemony, 
brothers,  *  *  *  to  whom  we  let  the  contract  for  the 
same ;  the  largest  bell,  which  is  used  for  striking  the  hour, 
weighing  more  than  four  thousand  pounds,  and  the  other 
bells,  to  the  number  of  26,  in  proportion.  Which  hour 
and  playing  bells  by  impartial  Masters,  invited  thereto 
by  us,  have  been  declared  to  be  not  only  good,  but  sur- 
passing in  tone  and  resonance  all  other  carillons  in  the 
vicinity,  so  that  we  are  well  pleased  therewith  and  here- 
with thank  the  aforesaid  Masters  for  their  work  in  casting 
and  furnishing  the  said  bells." 


Zutfen:  The  Wine  House  Tower  and  Market  Square 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES         91 

The  reputation  of  the  Hemonys  spread  rap- 
idly and  many  towns  bought  carillons  of  them. 
In  1654  Frans  removed  to  Amsterdam  where 
he  was  received  with  great  consideration. 
The  regents  knowing  his  honesty  and  talent 
assigned  to  him  without  cost  a  building  site 
for  a  foundry  on  the  Keizergracht.  At  the 
same  time  they  intrusted  him  with  the  making 
of  carillons  for  five  towers. 

After  his  brother's  death,  Pieter  Hemony, 
who  had  moved  to  Amsterdam  in  1664,  con- 
ducted the  foundry  alone.  Of  this  brother  we 
know  much  from  his  correspondence  with  his 
friend  de  Loose,  prior  of  the  Benedictine  Ab- 
bey of  Eename  near  Aalst  in  Belgium.  We 
find  Hemony  writing  to  the  abbot,  with  ref- 
erence to  making  a  carillon  for  Cambrai,  that 
he  is  not  well  enough  to  follow  longer  his  vo- 
cation; he  has,  however,  three  carillons  made 
in  advance,  of  which  one  is  like  that  he  has 
furnished  Eename  but  with  a  half-tone  extra, 
that  is  to  say,  one  more  bell;  it  has  28  bells; 
the  price  is  1400  ducatons.     He  adds:  "The 


92  CARILLONS    OF 

other  two  are  greater;  one  has  32  bells,  weighs 
6150  pounds,  price  2000  ducatons;  the  other 
also  32  bells,  but  weighs  8350  pounds;  price 
2520  ducatons.  To  reach  me  it  suffices  to 
place  upon  the  letter:  To  Pieter  Hemony, 
city  founder  of  bells  and  of  cannons."  One  of 
these  carillons  was  subsequently  sold  to  Mech- 
lin.   The  following  years  he  writes : 

1677.  "After  the  bells  now  making  have  been  tuned 
and  shipped,  I  am  resolved  to  dismiss  my  workmen  and 
live  in  repose  *  *  *  having  worked  44  years  at  found- 
ing with  my  own  hands." 

1678.  "I  do  not  hope  to  regain  my  health,  but  that 
gives  me  no  sorrow  for  I  am  resigned  to  the  goodness  of 
God.  I  know  that  one  must  die  sooner  or  later.  I  desire 
no  other  thing  now  but  to  pass  the  rest  of  my  days  in 
tranquillity  and  in  being  able  to  render  service  to  my 
friends,  among  whom  Your  Reverence  holds  the  first 
place." 

The  contrasts  in  the  character  of  Pieter 
Hemony  are  reflected  in  the  nature  of  his 
work.  He  was  profoundly  religious,  having 
a  chapel  in  his  house,  where  he  heard  mass 
every  day;  and,  as  is  shown  by  his  booklet  on 
the  uselessness  of  C  sharp  and  D  sharp  in  the 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     93 

bass  of  carillons,  a  good  fighter  for  his  musi- 
cal opinions.  While  he  was  making  carillons 
at  Amsterdam,  he  was  at  the  same  time  cast- 
ing cannons  at  Zutfen.  Thus  while  Louis 
XIV  was  warring  against  the  Low  Countries, 
this  master  founder  was  busy  forging  mighty 
engines  of  destruction  to  gain  victories  and 
gigantic  instruments  of  music  to  celebrate 
them. 

During  35  years  the  Hemonys  made  scores 
of  carillons,  the  total  value  of  which  van  der 
Straeten  says  was  surely  more  than  three  mill- 
ions of  francs,  an  enormous  sum  for  the  time. 
In  a  letter  of  1677  or  1678  to  Dr.  Booth  of 
Utrecht,  Pieter  Hemony  says: 

"I  understand  that  you  are  curious  to  know  how  many 
carillons  we  have  made  and  where.  I  therefore  send  you 
a  specified  statement  thereof,  marked  in  the  margin  with 
the  letters  F — P,  that  is,  Frans  and  Pieter,  the  two  letters 
before  an  entry  indicating  that  both  of  us  together  worked 
on  the  carillon  and  a  single  letter  showing  that  only  one 
of  us  worked  on  it." 

Then  follows  a  list  of  47  carillons  aggregating 
790,000  pounds ;  and  though  several  known  to 


94  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

have  been  made  by  the  Hemonys  are  omitted, 
the  list  indicates  that  the  figures  mentioned 
by  van  der  Straeten  must  include  the  value 
not  only  of  the  bells  but  of  the  drums  and 
the  rest  of  the  mechanism  connected  with  the 
bells. 

A  large  majority  of  the  bells  of  Holland 
are  of  the  manufacture  of  the  Hemonys;  in 
Belgium,  most  of  the  present  bells  of  Mechlin 
and  of  Antwerp  are  by  them;  while  outside 
the  Netherlands  they  supplied  carillons  to 
Stockholm,  Hamburg,  Mainz,  and  Darm- 
stadt. 

Another  name  greatly  honoured  in  carillon 
making  is  that  of  van  den  Gheyn.  At  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Willem,  born 
in  Holland,  conducted  a  foundry  at  Mechlin, 
and  already  for  a  hundred  years  van  den 
Gheyns  had  been  bell  makers.  Later  we  find 
the  names  of  Jan,  Pieter,  another  Pieter,  and 
another  Jan,  and  still  later,  Andreas.  The 
family  has  successively  carried  on  work  at 
Mechlin   (1566-1629),  St.  Trond  and  Tirle- 


THE    LOW   COUNTRIES         95 

mont  (1629-1790),  and  Louvain  (17901914), 
Felix  van  Aerschodt  being  the  present  repre- 
sentative of  the  famous  family  of  founders. 
Mr.  X.  V.  F.  van  Elewyck  has  published  an 
interesting  sketch  of  the  van  den  Gheyns. 
From  their  foundry  came  the  bells  of  Nime- 
guen,  Nykerk,  Louvain  (S.  Gertrude's),  and 
Schiedam,  and  most  of  the  bells  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  come  from  the  workshop  of 
the  van  Aerschodts.  Many  carillons  have 
been  increased  by  them  and  they  have  fur- 
nished complete  carillons  to  Ypres,  Courtrai, 
and  Cattistock  in  England. 

Dumery  (or  du  Mery)  is  a  name  also 
famous  in  carillon  founding  and  one  that  ap- 
pears on  many  bells.  The  head  of  the  family 
Joris  (or  Georges)  was  born  at  Antwerp  in 
1699  and  his  work  was  continued  by  his  sons, 
Willem  and  Jacob,  the  latter  dying  at  Bruges 
in  1836.  The  greatest  Dumery  carillon  is  that 
in  the  belfry  of  Bruges,  made  in  1743. 

A  family  early  celebrated  for  bell  making, 
is  that  of  Waghevens.    The  first  of  that  name 


96  CARILLONS    OF 

was  Hendrik  (or  Henri)  who  in  1462,  was  a 
bell  founder,  probably  at  Mechlin.  His  sons, 
Simon,  Pierre,  and  Georges,  succeeded  him. 
In  the  next  generation,  Jacques,  Medard,  and 
Jean  were  founders,  and  in  the  next  genera- 
tion was  another  Medard.  No  large  set  of 
their  making  now  exists  but  single  bells  by 
them  are  found  at  Mechlin,  Tournai  and  sev- 
eral other  towns.  Dr.  van  Doorslaer's  "Les 
Waghevens"  is  a  classic  in  bell  literature. 

Yet  another  skilled  carillon  founder  is  Mel- 
chior  de  Haze.  An  admirer  described  him 
in  verse  as  "skilled  in  all  arts,  but  especially 
to  be  honoured  for  having  known  how  to  make 
life  a  joy  by  means  of  his  carillons."  Born 
about  1630  at  Antwerp,  he  became  a  pupil  of 
the  Hemonys  and  was  one  of  their  successors, 
surviving  the  younger  brother  by  a  score  of 
years.    His  best  bells  are  at  the  Hague. 

J.  Petit  with  his  son  Alexis,  carried  on  a 
bell  making  establishment,  which  had  already 
existed  for  a  century,  at  Someren  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.    The  foundry 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     97 

was  moved  to  Aarle-Rixtel  by  his  grandson, 
Hendrik  Petit,  and  he  had  as  his  successor 
his  nephew,  Hendrik  Fritsen.  The  firm  now 
bears  the  name  of  Petit  and  Fritsen 

Many  other  names  are  associated  with  caril- 
lon making,  among  them  that  of  Mammes  (or 
Mammertus)  Fremy  of  Amsterdam,  a  nephew 
and  pupil  of  the  Hemonys,  who  in  1687  made 
the  bells  at  Leeuwarden.  Of  him  Pieter 
Hemony  wrote  to  his  friend  the  prior  in  1677, 
"He  is  now  able  to  found  such  bells  as  Your 
Reverence  desires;  I  hope  in  time  he  will 
learn  also  to  tune  well;  as  for  me,  I  can  now 
only  direct  the  work  and  do  tuning."  Others 
are  G.  Witlockx  of  Antwerp,  who  in  171 5 
made  a  noted  carillon  for  Ath,  consumed  in 
1 8 17;  Noorden  and  de  Grave,  makers  of  the 
bells  of  Middleburg  and  Louvain  (S.  Peter) ; 
and  J.  N.  Derk  of  Hoorn,  who  in  1757  made 
a  carillon  for  S.  Petersburg.  The  best-known 
carillon  founders  of  the  present  day  are  Felix 
van  Aerschodt  of  Louvain,  of  whom  mention 
has  already  been  made,  and  John  Taylor  and 


98  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

Company  of  Loughborough,  England,  whose 
carillons  in  the  towers  at  Appingedam,  Flush- 
ing, and  Eindhoven  have  gained  the  highest 
commendation. 

The  recitals  in  contracts  with  founders  of 
the  early  days  indicate  that  the  purchase  of  a 
carillon  was  an  affair  of  great  moment.  One 
old  contract  referred  to  in  the  accounts  of  Am- 
sterdam for  1643,  that  for  the  first  carillon  of 
the  Wester  Kerk,  was  made  with  J.  A.  Leegh- 
water,  the  famous  engineer  who  first  proposed 
the  drainage  of  the  Haarlemmer  Meer  and 
wrote  on  the  subject  a  book  which  passed 
through  several  editions.  The  following 
story,  told  by  Schaepkens  with  reference  to 
Maastricht,  shows  the  usual  procedure  fol- 
lowed in  obtaining  a  new  set  of  bells: 

"In  May  1668  the  council,  considering  that  the  arse- 
nal of  the  town  contained  a  quantity  of  bronze  resolved 
to  have  founded  a  carillon  which  should  serve  the  clock 
in  the  tower  then  building.  The  burgomaster  Conincx 
made  report  in  July  of  a  conference  he  had  had  at  Am- 
sterdam with  Frans  Hemony  and  communicated  the  con- 
ditions of  the  proposed  contract,  which  were  read  and 


THE    LOW   COUNTRIES         99 

approved  by  the  council.  The  founder  engaged  to  fur- 
nish 28  attuned  bells  such  as  he  had  recently  deliv- 
ered to  the  town  of  Diest.  Before  acceptance  of  the  bells 
the  burgomaster  was  to  have  them  examined  and  ap- 
proved at  Amsterdam  by  musicians  of  his  own  choice. 
The  founder  was  to  pay  the  cost  of  transporting  the  bells 
to  Dordrecht  and  from  there  the  cost  of  transportation 
was  to  be  borne  by  Maastricht.  The  founder  was  to 
receive  as  much  old  metal  as  the  new  bells  should  weigh 
and  for  the  making  and  the  hand-work  Maastricht  was 
to  pay  him  the  sum  of  3,300  florins  in  three  payments,  the 
first,  three  months  after  the  delivery,  and  the  second  and 
third,  at  the  expiration  of  the  second  and  third  years. 
Maastricht  delivered  by  boat  at  Amsterdam  bells  of  the 
old  belfry  to  the  amount  of  6270  pounds  and  1100  pounds 
of  lions  of  bronze  which  had  ornamented  the  balcony  of 
the  old  Town  Hall.  The  same  boatman  carried  back 
to  Maastricht  the  new  carillon.  On  its  arrival,  the  bur- 
gomaster honoured  it  by  a  ceremonious  banquet  and  fes- 
tivity." 

This  was  the  carillon  that  was  temporarily 
taken  down  during  the  siege  of  1676. 

In  1682  Mammertus  Fremy  engaged  to  de- 
liver 27  bells  to  the  Hague.  But  he  failed  to 
make  performance  and  a  new  contract  was 
made  with  Melchior  de  Haze,  who  in  1686 
agreed  to  make  for  the  Hague  a  carillon  equal 


100  CARILLONS    OF 

to  the  best  in  Amsterdam.  When  the  bells 
were  delivered,  certain  experts  held  that  they 
did  not  conform  to  the  contract  and  Quiryn 
van  Blankenburgh,  who  figured  in  the  con- 
troversy about  the  bass  bells  at  Gouda,  made 
a  report  commenting  separately  upon  nearly 
every  one  of  the  bells.  His  criticism  ex- 
hausted the  vocabulary  of  deficiency.  The 
bells  of  the  first  octave  were  disagreeable  in 
sound  and  were  in  discord  with  each  other; 
the  next  few  bells  were  wavy  but  might  do; 
the  C  next  above  was  false  and  dull;  the  C 
sharp  was  shrill  and  dead;  the  D  and  D  sharp 
were  dull ;  the  E  was  sharp ;  and  beyond  this 
came  a  bell  "no  more  musical  than  a  drug- 
gist's mortar;"  the  bells  of  the  next  octave 
were  fair  in  comparison  with  the  others.  He 
says  of  the  following  A:  "Dull.  In  travelling 
through  Leiden,  I  noticed  that  the  dock-mas- 
ter's bell  at  the  boat  landing  at  the  Hague 
gate  was  very  clear  and  of  the  same  tone  as 
this  A  and  therefore,  might  well  be  exchanged 
for  it"    To  only  one  of  the  smallest  bells  does 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     101 

he  give  praise,  describing  it  as  "een  zeer  mooi 
en  helder  klokje."  But  in  spite  of  all  this 
criticism,  the  bells  were  accepted  and  are 
heard  today  at  the  Hague. 

When  Brussels  decided  to  get  a  new  caril- 
lon in  171 1,  the  magistrates  asked  de  Haze  to 
furnish  it.  G.  Witlockx  protested,  saying  in 
his  petition  to  the  council,  that  he  had  had 
great  experience  and  was  able  to  make  bells 
of  which  Europe  did  not  possess  the  like;  that 
Holland  even  had  bought  of  him;  that  he 
was  employing  25  workmen  and  the  country 
should  be  interested  in  protecting  the  arts 
practiced  therein;  and  he  appealed  to  the  king 
that  a  foreign  master  should  not  be  preferred 
to  him.  But  his  plea  for  protection  to  home 
industries  was  of  no  avail  and  the  contract 
was  made  with  de  Haze. 

Witlockx  was,  however,  more  successful  in 
an  encounter  with  Ath.  This  town  had  had  a 
carillon  since  1520,  and  the  council,  desiring 
to  give  it  "un  cachet  plus  musical  encore," 
determined  in  1715  to  purchase  a  new  one. 


102  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

When  Witlockx  delivered  the  bells,  a  contro- 
versy arose  as  to  whether  they  formed  the 
"concert  irreprochable"  he  had  promised.  A 
committee  of  experts  from  Liege,  Lille,  Cam- 
brai,  Mons,  Hal,  and  Aalst  was  called  in  and 
gave  its  decision  against  the  town.  Appar- 
ently the  council  was  still  obdurate,  for  on 
January  8,  1718,  the  sovereign  council  of  the 
Empire  commanded  it  to  pay  Witlockx  the 
price  fixed  by  the  contract. 

Of  the  Middleburg  clock  and  carillon,  the 
latter  bought  in  17 14,  we  have  a  very  full  ac- 
count in  the  pamphlet  of  F.  A.  Hoefer.  The 
costs  are  calculated  to  have  been : 

Rebuilding  the  tower  . . .  78,037  florins 

The  bells 49,322      " 

The  clockwork   4,728      " 

The    playing   mechanism  26,731       " 

Total  158,818      " 

Danzig  was  not  satisfied  with  the  bells  it 
had  bought  of  Derk  in  1737  and  sent  18  of 
them  back  to  Hoorn.  The  carillonneur  who 
accompanied  them  had  pitch  pipes  giving  the 


• 


Middleburg:  "Lange  Jan,"  The  Abbey  Tower, 
in  Winter 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       103 

notes  of  the  bells  left  at  home.  By  filing,  cut- 
ting, and  recasting,  the  18  were  made  satis- 
factory in  tone,  and  after  signing  a  certificate 
to  that  effect,  he  took  back  the  bells  to  Dan- 
zig. This  carillon  was  considered  the  finest 
in  Germany  until  its  destruction  by  fire  in 
1911. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  contract  be- 
cause of  its  exacting  specifications  was  one 
from  which  the  following  is  quoted : 

"This  day,  the  19th  June  1751,  have  met  together 
the  burgomasters  and  knights  of  Oudenaarde  of  the  first 
part,  and  Jean  Baptiste  Joseph  Barbieux,  son  of  Fran- 
cois, and  Francois  Bernard  Joseph  Flincon,  son  of  Simon, 
master  bell  founders  living  in  the  town  of  Tournai  of 
the  second  part : 

"And  this  Witnesseth:  That  the  said  master  founders 
engage  to  found  a  new  carillon  of  which  all  the  bells 
shall  be  altogether  and  each  in  itself  sonorous,  harmo- 
nious, melodious,  true,  solid,  good,  beautiful,  and  well 
finished,  and  respectively  in  relation  the  one  to  the  other, 
well  proportioned,  and  of  a  proper  and  agreeable  accord 
as  determined  by  the  best  taste  and  rules  of  music." 

The  contract  called  for  35  bells  fitted  and 
adjusted  to  the  clockwork;  also  for  a  drum 


104  CARILLONS    OF 

and  2000  new  pins;  also  for  a  new  keyboard. 
The  largest  of  the  bells  was  to  weigh  1500 
pounds  and  the  entire  carillon  about  6000 
pounds.  But  the  bells  did  not  conform  to  the 
rigorous  conditions,  and  the  carillon  was  re- 
jected. 

The  cost  of  bell-metal  today  is  about  the 
same  as  it  was  in  England  and  in  the  Nether- 
lands in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies. In  the  time  of  the  Hemonys,  a  tuned 
bell  sold  for  from  30  to  40  cents  a  pound, 
the  metal  itself  costing  from  15  to  20  cents  a 
pound.  Notwithstanding  Longfellow's  "heart 
of  iron"  and  Poe's  "golden  molten  bells"  and 
the  "silver  bells"  of  many  poets,  the  only 
metals  used  in  founding  bells  of  the  most  per- 
fect timbre  are  copper  and  tin.  The  addition 
of  gold,  silver,  antimony,  bismuth,  or  any 
other  metal  impairs  the  quality  of  tone.  The 
proportion  of  tin  used  is  from  21%  to  25%. 
A  recent  chemical  analysis  by  Dr.  Euwes  of 
some  of  the  Hemony  bells  in  the  Zuider  Kerk 
at  Amsterdam  shows  that  the  alloy  used  con- 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     105 

sists  exclusively  of  copper  and  tin,  but  not  in 
fixed  proportions. 

John  Taylor  and  Company  have  been  good 
enough  to  write  me  (June,  1914)  : 

"The  present  price  of  bells  averages  about  Is.  3d.  per 
pound  net,  tuned  and  finished  at  our  works,  exclusive 
of  packing.  This  is  for  all  bells  of  200  pounds  weight 
and  heavier ;  for  bells  of  less  than  200  pounds,  the  cost  is 
3d.  per  pound  more,  i.e.,  at  the  present  time  about  Is.  6d. 
per  pound. 

£       s.     d. 

"Thus  the  cost  of  a  carillon  of  42  bells 
with  largest  of  9,260  pounds  weight, 
(4,200  kilos.)  and  total  weight  about 
47,000  pounds,  all  cast  of  the  purest  metal, 
of  the  best  tone  and  in  perfect  tune,  with 
true  harmonics  (45,600  at  Is.  3d.  and 
1,400  at  Is.  6d.)  would  be  about 2955     0    0 

"The  cost  of  the  requisite  clappers,  fit- 
tings, clavier  (keyboard)  and  all  necessary 
connections  for  the  42  bells,  also  frame- 
work, of  our  best  make  throughout,  fitted 
here,  complete,  ready  for  fixing,  and  marked 
to  take  to  pieces,  would  be  about 700     0     0 

"Automatic  carillon  machine,  including 
drum,  hammers,  wires,  and  springs,  the 
whole  fitted  up  complete 810     0     0 

"Total   4465     0    0" 


106  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

They  also  inform  me  that  the  cost  of  a  caril- 
lon similar  to  that  at  Appingedam  (two  oc- 
taves chromatic  and  weighing  4,500  pounds), 
complete  as  above,  would  be  £908. 

Felix  van  Aerschodt,  for  a  carillon  of  42 
bells,  weighing  39,600  pounds,  but  with  the 
bass  bell  of  the  same  weight  as  above,  and 
including  keyboard  and  automatic  playing 
mechanism,  gives  a  price  of  130,000  francs. 
He  adds: 

"My  prices  are  based  on  the  current  price  of  the  bell 
metals.  At  present  I  estimate  3  francs  per  kilogram  for 
bells  of  from  200  to  8,000  kilograms.  For  bells  of  less 
than  200  kilograms  in  weight,  the  price  increases  up  to 
5  francs  per  kilogram  for  the  smallest  bells." 

In  the  United  States,  well-known  founders, 
such  as  the  Meneely  Bell  Company  of  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  and  Meneely  and  Company  of  Water- 
vliet,  N.  Y.,  have  not  yet  made  carillons, 
which  require  small  bells,  though  their  chimes 
are  found  in  many  American  cities. 

The  Hemonys,  the  van  den  Gheyns  and  the 
Dumerys  were  the  great  founders  of  former 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       107 

times.  Hemony's  bells,  generally  speaking 
are  the  best;  they  are  bright,  clear,  and  true — 
epic  in  character.  Van  den  Gheyn's  bells  are 
similar.  Dumery's  are  velvety,  soft,  and  true 
— elegiac  in  character. 

Bells  neither  improve  nor  retrograde  unless 
cracks  develop.  While  modern  music  accepts 
certain  combinations  as  chords  not  allowed  by 
earlier  musicians,  nevertheless  the  modern  ear 
seems  more  sensitive  and  exacting  as  to  cor- 
rectness of  pitch.  Carillons  today  by  makers 
such  as  van  Aerschodt  at  Louvain,  and  Tay- 
lor at  Loughborough,  are  even  more  perfect 
than  those  of  former  times. 

In  broad  terms  the  pitch,  or  note,  of  bells 
is  determined  by  diameter.  Their  timbre,  or 
quality  of  sound,  is  affected  by  their  general 
shape,  the  thickness  of  their  various  parts,  to- 
gether with  the  alloy  of  which  they  are  made. 
Their  volume,  or  possible  loudness  of  sound, 
depends  chiefly  upon  their  size  and  weight. 
The  pitch  can  be  lowered  by  lengthening  the 
bottom  diameter,  and   raised  by  shortening 


108  CARILLONS    OF 

such  diameter,  just  as  lengthening  or  shorten- 
ing a  violin  string,  the  stress  being  the  same, 
lowers  or  raises  its  pitch.  Change  of  diameter 
can  be  made,  but  of  course  within  very  mod- 
erate limits,  by  filing  or  turning  off  the  inside 
at  the  bottom  swell  thus  lengthening  the  in- 
side diameter,  or  by  cutting  off  a  slight  por- 
tion of  the  rim,  thus  shortening  the  diameter. 
In  answer  to  my  inquiry  about  tuning,  Mr. 
van  Aerschodt  tells  me: 

"The  pitch  can  be  heightened  to  the  extent  of  8  vibra- 
tions by  cutting  off  at  the  rim  and  can  be  lowered  to  the 
extent  of  12  vibrations  by  cutting  the  metal  away  from 
the  interior  at  its  sound  bow  without  impairing  its 
sonority.  I  cast  a  dozen  small  bells  for  a  particular  pitch 
I  desire  and  choose  the  best  one.  The  larger  bells  I 
make  by  exact  formulae  based  upon  the  records  of  my 
ancestors,  the  van  den  Gheyns." 

In  this  connection,  a  thesis  entitled  "Ex- 
perimenteel  onderzoek  van  klokken  van  F. 
Hemony,"  which  gained  for  Mr.  A.  Vas 
Nunes  the  degree  of  doctor  at  the  University 
of  Amsterdam,  deserves  consideration.  In  his 
investigation,  he  listened  to  the  bells  of  the 


Amsterdam 

View  from  the  Palace  bell-level  toward  the  South   Church 

Photograph  by  W.  G.  Rice,  Jr. 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     109 

Zuider  Kerk  at  Amsterdam  with  special  ref- 
erence to  the  overtones  which  determine  the 
timbre,  as  was  shown  half  a  century  ago  by 
Helmholz.  The  harmonics  or  overtones  of  a 
bell  are  not  what  is  usually  understood  by  that 
term.  They  all  are  principal  notes  dependent 
upon  the  various  curves  of  the  bell.  In  a  let- 
ter of  1653  Frans  Hemony  declares  that  a  bell 
should  give  forth  three  octaves  (the  middle 
one  being  the  strike  note),  two  fifths,  and  the 
major  and  minor  thirds.  The  theory  of  tun- 
ing employed  by  the  best  English  bell  makers, 
that  formulated  by  Mr.  W.  W.  Starmer,  has 
been  summarized  as  follows: 

"1.  A  bell  must  be  in  tune  with  itself  before  it  can 
possibly  be  in  tune  with  others. 

"2.  Every  bell  has  at  least  five  tones  (and  in  some 
instances  more),  which  can  be  most  accurately  tuned. 

"3.  These  principal  tones  are:  strike-note,  nominal 
(above),  and  hum-note  (below),  which  three  should  be 
perfect  octaves  with  each  other,  and  the  tierce  (minor 
third),  and  the  quint  (perfect  fifth)  between  the  strike- 
note  and  the  nominal.  All  these  must  be  in  perfect  tune 
with  each  other. 

"4.  The  timbre  of  a  bell  depends:   (a)   on  the  con- 


110  TOWER   MUSIC 

sonance  of  its  component  tones;  (b)  on  the  relative  inten- 
sities of  the  various  tones,  which  in  their  turn  are  de- 
pendent upon  the  minute  accuracy  of  sharply-defined 
height,  width,  and  thickness  proportions.  These  again 
must  be  so  adjusted  as  to  admit  of  the  several  tones  being 
perfectly  tuned  without  upsetting  the  ratio  between  the 
thickness  proportions  and  other  dimensions  of  the  bell." 

At  Loughborough  there  is  a  carillon  of  40 
small  bells  made  by  John  Taylor  and  Com- 
pany, which  hangs  in  their  foundry  tower. 
These  bells  have  been  tuned  according  to  the 
foregoing  principles  and  are  probably  the 
most  accurate  set  of  bells  in  the  world.  The 
result  is  especially  noteworthy  because  small 
bells  are  admittedly  very  difficult  to  tune. 

As  we  consider  the  science  of  tuning  we  are 
inevitably  led  to  agree  with  van  der  Straeten 
that:  "A  good  bell  is  not  made  by  chance  but 
is  the  result  of  a  wise  combination  of  quali- 
ties and  thought,  and  a  fine  carillon  is  as  pre- 
cious as  a  violin  by  Stradivarius." 


CHAPTER  VII 

"Die  wahre  Musik  ist  allein  furs  Ohr." 

Goethe 

A  PECULIAR  charm  of  carillon  music 
is  due  to  the  invisibility  of  the  player. 
The  element  of  mystery  is  in  the  notes 
that  float  down  from  the  tower  and  while  we 
know  that  there  is  a  performer,  his  movements 
do  not  distract  us  from  completely  giving  our- 
selves up  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  sounds.  To 
Stevenson,  we  have  seen,  perception  of  the 
charm  came  as  he  floated  on  an  inland  river; 
to  another  voyager  it  was  as  he  sailed  at  even- 
ing on  the  North  Sea:  "It  was  when  cruising 
in  a  fishing  boat  off  the  coast  that  I  first 
heard  the  keyboard  carillon  and  guessed  that 
a  living  artist  and  not  a  mere  mechanical  con- 
trivance was  making  music  (which  indeed 
seemed  the  moonlight,  made  audible)  in  his 
far-off  unseen  tower  beyond  the  darkling  sea 

levels  and  the  white  glimmering  fog-drifts." 

ill 


112  CARILLONS    OF 

Carillons  have  a  peculiar  association  with 
the  water,  for  not  only  do  many  of  them  con- 
stantly sound  over  it,  but  the  Dutch  and  the 
Flemish  are  by  nature  oversea  traders.  The 
carillonneur,  too,  climbing  his  tower  in  fair 
weather  and  foul,  affected  by  neither  rain, 
sun,  nor  wind,  is  not  unlike  the  captain  on  his 
bridge.  And  again,  the  view  from  the  tower 
over  the  flat  Netherlandish  countryside  has 
much  to  remind  one  of  ocean  reaches.  Not  a 
few  travellers  must  have  felt  this  similarity, 
for  the  Dutch  landscape  has  the  same  glisten- 
ing reposeful  beauty  as  has  the  sea  in  calm 
sunny  weather.  De  Amicis  describes  such  a 
scene : 

"From  the  top  of  the  tower  (S.  Lawrence's),  the 
whole  of  Rotterdam  can  be  seen  at  a  glance,  with  all  its 
little  sharp  red  roofs,  its  broad  canals,  its  ships  scattered 
among  houses,  and  all  about  the  city  a  vast  green  plain, 
intersected  by  canals  bordered  by  trees,  sprinkled  with 
windmills  and  villages  hidden  in  masses  of  verdure,  show- 
ing only  the  tops  of  their  steeples.  When  I  was  there, 
the  sky  was  clear,  and  I  could  see  the  waters  of  the  Meuse 
shining  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Bois-le-Duc,  nearly  to 
its  mouth;  the  steeples  of  Dordrecht,  Leiden,  Delft,  the 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     113 

Hague,  and  Gouda  were  visible,  but  neither  far  nor  near 
was  there  a  hill,  a  rising  ground,  a  swell  to  interrupt  the 
straight  and  rigid  line  of  the  horizon.  It  was  like  a 
green  and  motionless  sea,  where  the  steeples  represented 
masts  of  ships  at  anchor.  The  eye  roamed  over  that  im- 
mense space  with  a  sense  of  repose,  and  I  felt,  for  the 
first  time,  that  indefinable  sentiment  inspired  by  the  Dutch 
landscape,  which  is  neither  pleasure,  nor  sadness,  nor 
ennui,  but  a  mixture  of  all  three,  and  which  holds  one 
for  a  long  time  silent  and  motionless. 

"Suddenly  I  was  startled  by  the  sound  of  strange 
music  coming  from  I  knew  not  where.  It  was  a  chime 
of  bells  ringing  a  lively  air,  the  silvery  notes  now  falling 
slowly  one  by  one,  and  now  coming  in  groups,  in  strange 
flourishes,  in  trills,  in  sonorous  chords,  a  quaint  dancing 
strain,  somewhat  primitive,  like  the  many-colored  city, 
on  which  its  notes  hovered  like  a  flock  of  wild  birds,  or 
like  the  city's  natural  voice,  an  echo  of  the  antique  life 
of  her  people,  recalling  the  sea,  the  solitudes,  the  huts, 
and  making  one  smile  and  sigh  at  the  same  moment.  This 
aerial  concert  is  repeated  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night, 
in  all  the  steeples  of  Holland,  the  tunes  being  national 
airs,  or  from  German  or  Italian  operas.  Thus  in  Hol- 
land the  passing  hour  sings,  as  if  to  distract  the  mind 
from  sad  thoughts  of  flying  time,  and  its  song  is  of  coun- 
try, faith,  and  love,  floating  in  harmony  above  the  sordid 
noises  of  the  earth." 

If  the  carillon  is  the  outcome  and  the  ex- 
pression of  Dutch  character,  it  has  certainly 


114  TOWER   MUSIC    IN 

also  had  its  effect  in  moulding  that  character, 
so  open  alike  to  the  solemnity  and  to  the  hap- 
piness of  life.  A  graduate  of  Delft,  now  in  a 
foreign  land,  writes  of  his  "many  memories 
of  enchanting  music  heard  unexpectedly  in 
the  stillness  of  a  winter  night.  Many  a  night," 
he  says,  "my  friend  and  I  on  our  walks  through 
the  quiet  snow-covered  city  have  stood  still 
and  listened  and  had  our  whole  trend  of 
thought  changed  and  lifted  by  this  wonderful 
music." 

What  is  this  music,  which,  even  when 
played  by  mechanism,  so  inspires  the  listener? 
The  tunes  for  the  most  part  are  national  melo- 
dies, operatic  airs,  hymns,  and  folk  songs.  In 
some  instances  original  compositions  espe- 
cially written  for  bells  are  played.  With  few 
exceptions  the  selections  are  of  real  worth, 
and  as  the  compass  of  the  carillon  is  rarely  less 
than  three  octaves,  chromatic  except  at  the 
extreme  bass,  there  is  no  mutilation  of  the 
music. 

The  hour  is  divided  into  four  or  eight  parts 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       115 

(for  the  quarters  are  sometimes  subdivided). 
This  eighth  hour  play,  when  it  occurs,  con- 
sists of  a  flourish  of  not  over  two  bars.  The 
quarter  tunes  before  and  after  the  hour  are 
comparatively  short  and  of  equal  length — 
about  four  times  as  long  as  those  at  the 
eighths.  The  half-hour  play  is  at  least  four 
times  as  long  as  that  at  the  quarters  and  is 
followed  by  the  striking  of  the  next  hour  by 
a  bell  of  higher  pitch  than  that  used  at  the 
hour  itself.  The  play  before  the  hour  is  at 
least  twice  as  long  as  that  before  the  half-hour. 
At  Schiedam  in  19 13  the  hour  tune  was  the 
overture  of  Mozart's  "Magic  Flute"  and  the 
half-hour  tune  Mendelssohn's  "Spring  Song." 
In  Flanders  "Ons  Vaderland"  and  "Arte- 
velde"  are  favourites.  At  Bruges  in  1914  there 
were  played  at  the  four  quarters,  three  tunes 
by  Benoit,  the  Belgian  composer,  and  "Het 
Liedje  van  den  Smid"  by  Andelhof.  There 
is  played  at  Oudenaarde  at  the  time  of  the 
annual  archery  contest  of  the  Society  of  St. 
George  "The  March  of  the  Oath  of  the  Arch- 


116  CARILLONS    OF 

ers"  and  "The  Song  of  the  Oath  of  the  Bow- 
men of  St.  George."  Once  as  the  train  paused 
in  Rotterdam,  I  heard  "The  Taking  of  Briel," 
and  while  we  stopped  at  Gouda,  the  distant 
notes  of  "Wilhelmus  van  Nassouwe"  reached 
us.  When  I  was  last  in  Middleburg,  "Lange 
Jan"  enchanted  us  each  hour  with  Mendels- 
sohn's "Wedding  March." 

These  examples  are  illustrative  of  the  music 
commonly  heard  today.  Of  ancient  tunes  we 
have  records  too.  T.  H.  de  Sany,  carillonneur 
of  Brussels,  published  in  1648  a  list  of  the 
tunes  that  he  set  for  periodic  play  on  his  caril- 
lon and  that  others  also  used.  This  list  is  in- 
dicative of  the  popular  taste  and  of  the  im- 
portance given  the  automatic  play  in  those 
days.  For  the  season  of  Advent  there  was 
a  special  tune  for  the  hour  and  another  for 
the  half-hour.  For  Christmas  there  were  five 
special  tunes,  for  Mardi  Gras  three,  for  Lent 
four,  for  the  Assumption  (a  great  feast  in  Bel- 
gium even  to-day)  six,  for  the  month  of  May 
three,  for  S.  Michael's  Day  two,  for  S.  John's 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     117 

Day  one,  for  Martyrs'  Day  two.  S.  Michael 
is  Brussels'  patron  saint,  while  the  two  days 
last  mentioned  were  special  festivals  there. 
All  three  May  songs  were  entitled  "The  Joy- 
ful May,"  while  at  least  one  of  the  Christmas 
tunes  was  a  carol  of  which  the  Latin  and 
Netherlandish  words  were  familiar.  Besides 
these  tunes,  de  Sany  gives  a  list  of  thirteen 
French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  pieces  for  ferial 
use,  two  of  which,  for  instance,  were  always 
played  after  the  death  of  a  Duke  or  Duchess 
of  Brabant.  Gregoir  and  van  der  Straeten 
give  the  music  of  some  of  these.  If  the  bell- 
master  attended  to  making  the  many  changes 
which  this  large  repertory  seems  to  imply,  he 
must  have  been  extremely  busy  and  energetic. 
There  is  an  element  in  carillon  music  to 
which,  so  far  as  I  know,  attention  has  never 
heretofore  been  given.  That  element  is  the 
variation  in  expression  which  results  from  the 
influence  that  air  currents,  always  present 
more  or  less  in  the  open,  have  in  curving  and 
deflecting  sound  waves.     By  thus  apparently 


118  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

varying  the  volume  of  the  tones,  nature  con- 
spires with  man  to  make  the  effect  of  auto- 
matic play  pleasing. 

The  music  with  which  the  breezes  are  in 
this  partnership,  is  in  two,  three,  or  more 
parts.  Just  as  in  clavier  playing,  it  is  the 
smaller  bells  which  are  chiefly  used,  and  so 
the  disturbing  volume  of  sound  characteristic 
of  most  chimes,  if  heard  nearby,  is  avoided. 
The  melody  is  frequently  played  in  octaves, 
the  bass  being  strong  in  its  progression  and 
suggestive  of  the  harmony.  Chords  are  in  ex- 
tended positions;  minor  chords  and  chords  of 
the  diminished  seventh  are  particularly  effec- 
tive. 

The  drum,  which  in  revolving  makes  the 
hammers  strike,  at  Mechlin  is  of  gun-metal, 
five  feet  three  inches  in  diameter,  and  was 
made  in  1733-34.  It  must  be  wound  twice 
daily  and  about  60,000  notes  are  played  by  it 
every  twenty-four  hours,  the  barrel  contain- 
ing 180  longitudinal  rows  of  holes,  corre- 
sponding to  bars  or  measures  of  music.     In 


THE    LOW   COUNTRIES       119 

these  holes  are  placed  the  screw  pins  by  the 
arrangement  of  which  different  tunes  are  set. 
Tunes  are  set  several  times  a  year  in  most 
towns  (for  Easter  and  for  S.  Bavon's  Day  in 
October  at  Mechlin,  where  it  takes  about  four 
days  to  make  the  change).  A  part  of  the 
equipment  of  the  automatic  playwork  is  a 
note-gauge  or  rule  which  fits  on  the  barrel. 
Each  division  on  this  rule  comes  opposite  an 
encircling  row  of  holes,  and  each  division  is 
marked  with  the  bell-note  which  a  pin  or  stud 
set  in  this  row  will  cause  to  sound.  By  the 
use  of  the  rule  the  carillonneur  knows  exactly 
where  to  insert  pins  to  produce  a  particular 
tune.  There  are  a  dozen  or  more  different 
forms  of  pins,  the  difference  being  in  the  off- 
set, and  the  use  of  these  varieties  makes  it  pos- 
sible to  have  a  hammer  strike  its  bell  at  any 
one  or  even  two  of  eight  points  in  a  measure. 
An  English  firm  has  recently  invented  a 
machine  which  keeps  the  hammers  normally 
raised  and  ready  to  strike,  and  leaves  for  the 
pins  only  the  very  slight  duty  of  releasing 


120  CARILLONS    OF 

them,  which  is  accomplished  by  a  trigger  de- 
vice. This  makes  the  work  of  the  drum  not 
only  light  but  always  virtually  the  same 
whether  the  stroke  be  on  a  large  bell  or  small 
and  whether  the  notes  in  a  measure  be  many 
or  few.  Constancy  of  speed  in  the  revolution 
of  the  drum,  long  aimed  at  by  various  govern- 
ing mechanisms,  is  now  possible.  The  deli- 
cate trigger  release  permits  the  use  of  small 
and  accurate  interchangeable  cylinders,  and  by 
slipping  into  place  a  duplicate  cylinder,  upon 
which  new  tunes  are  already  set,  a  change  can 
be  made  in  a  few  minutes.  Changes  of  caril- 
lon tunes  may  take  place  not  once  or  twice  a 
year  but  as  frequently  as  may  be  desired.  In- 
deed, there  could  be  many  of  these  cylinders 
ready,  their  use  resembling  that  of  cylinders 
in  a  phonograph.  This  trigger  device  is  not 
applicable  to  clavier  play,  for  it,  like  the  un- 
successful pneumatic  and  electrical  appli- 
ances, would  deprive  the  carillonneur  of  the 
opportunity  of  putting  any  expression  into  his 
playing.     The    Belgian   carillons,    many   of 


Mechlin:  Transmission  Bars  and  Wires 

These  connect  the  keys  of  the  key  board  with  the  clappers 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     121 

which  are  now  so  perfect  in  the  matter  of 
mechanism  for  clavier  play,  have  none  of 
them  yet  been  equipped  with  this  English 
improvement  for  drum  play. 

The  1 80  longitudinal  rows  of  holes  at 
Mechlin  correspond  to  the  180  measures 
played  by  clockwork  each  hour,  while  the  134 
encircling  rows  correspond  to  the  134  ham- 
mers which  are  arranged  to  strike  the  45  bells, 
some  of  these  being  equipped  with  as  many  as 
five  hammers  apiece.  The  180  bars  are  played 
as  follows: 

Before  the  hour 108  bars 

Before  the  half-hour 48     " 

At  the  two   other  quarters,   8 

bars  each  16     " 

At  the  four  other  eighths,  2  bars 

each    8    " 

Total    180     " 

Quite  as  indefatigible  as  S.  Rombold's  bells 
at  Mechlin  are  those  of  many  other  towers. 
Yet  what  more  graceful  tribute  is  there  than 
this  which  Lucas  pays  to  one  of  the  busiest: 


122  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

"One  cannot  say  more  for  persistent  chimes 
than  this — at  Middleburg  it  is  no  misfortune 
to  wake  in  the  night!" 

That  it  is  not  a  delight  to  all,  however,  is 
shown  by  the  opinion  of  one  old  French 
writer,  who  describes  this  ringing  of  bells 
every  seven  and  one-half  minutes  as  "a  kind 
of  torture  that  Dante,  if  he  had  placed  musi- 
cians in  his  inferno,  would  have  certainly 
imagined  for  them."  But  would  not  even  so 
disgruntled  a  critic  as  he  have  listened  with 
happier  ears  had  he  heard  carillon  playing 
by  a  bell-master?  One  must  believe  so,  for 
under  the  touch  of  such  a  one,  this  instrument 
gives  intense  pleasure  in  a  musical  form  that 
appeals  to  the  artistic  sense  of  the  thousands 
who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  hear  it.  The  quali- 
fications of  a  carillonneur  are  much  the  same 
as  those  for  an  organist,  indeed  many  of  the 
best  players  and  composers  for  the  carillon 
have  been  organists.  Fischer,  writing  in  1738, 
says  to  play  well  requires  "a  musician  with  a 
good  knowledge  of  music,  good  hands  and 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       123 

feet,  and  no  gout."  Notwithstanding  these 
simple  requirements,  such  playing  seems  not 
always  to  have  kept  its  high  standards  for  we 
find  Gregoir  deploring  the  decadence  of  the 
art  and  asking  "Where  do  you  find  today  the 
carillonneur  that  is  capable  of  playing  varia- 
tions, trills,  arpeggios,  and  fugues?"  Hap- 
pily in  our  time  a  revival  has  come,  and  as 
the  great  competition  of  1910  showed,  there 
are  many  that  can  meet  both  past  standards 
and  present  day  requirements. 

And  this  leads  to  the  subject  of  music  for 
clavier  play.  Mr.  Prosper  Verheyden  of 
Antwerp  has  recently  said: 

"It  is  easy  to  explain  the  almost  entire  absence  of 
music  written  specially  for  carillon  playing,  for  carillons 
differ  much  among  themselves.  According  to  the  wealth 
of  the  cities  which  had  them  founded,  the  number  of  their 
bells  varies  from  2y2  to  over  4  octaves,  and  their  bass 
bell  may  be  either  large  or  small.  In  fact,  the  only  music 
written  for  the  carillon  and  played  with  complete  suc- 
cess is  the  work  of  carillonneurs,  and  of  very  few  caril- 
lonneurs  at  that.  There  is  the  series  of  preludes  by 
Matthias  van  den  Gheyn,  the  bell-master  of  Louvain  in 
the  eighteenth  century;  then  there  is  the  fine  suite  of 


124  CARILLONS    OF 

preludes  by  Josef  Denyn;  and  finally  there  is  a  sonata 
for  the  carillon  by  Gustaaf  van  Hoey,  director  of  the 
School  of  Music  at  Mechlin,  who  was  an  amateur  caril- 
lonneur  at  the  time  Adolf  Denyn  lavished  his  treasures 
of  music  upon  the  few  who  listened  in  his  day.  One  finds 
here  and  there  compositions  'for  the  carillon,'  but  these 
usually  show  a  complete  ignorance  of  all  the  peculiarities 
of  the  instrument.  Even  Benoit's  'Beiaardlied'  ('Carillon 
Song')  is  not  really  written  to  show  to  advantage  a  set 
of  bells." 

Mr.  Starmer  mentions  also  as  composers  for 
the  carillon,  Pothoff  of  Amsterdam  in  the 
eighteenth  century  and  J.  A.  H.  Wagenaar, 
senior,  of  Utrecht  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
who  like  van  den  Gheyn  were  both  organ- 
ists and  carillonneurs. 

Every  musical  instrument  possesses  a  char- 
acter of  its  own.  To  one  who  has  heard  it, 
this  individuality  is  apparent  in  the  carillon 
no  less  than  in  other  instruments.  To  others, 
comparison  may  be  of  aid,  but  after  all  that 
can  give  only  a  faint  idea  of  the  carillon's 
character  and  charm.  Perhaps  the  best  con- 
ception will  be  obtained  by  thinking  of  it  as 
resembling  an  organ  in  majesty  and  a  piano- 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     125 

forte  in  delicacy,  but  with  harmonies  aerial 
and  unbounded.  Like  every  other  instrument 
it  must  be  judged  when  well-attuned  and  me- 
chanically perfect.  Awakened  by  the  hand  of 
a  master  then,  this  tower  music  seems  to  come 
from  the  heavens,  the  silvery  delicacy  of  the 
higher  notes  being  carried  far  upon  the  tide 
of  the  sonorous  bass  tones. 

To  find  a  good  place  to  listen  to  this  music 
is  always  of  importance  to  the  traveller.  Such 
a  place  should  be  at  a  distance  of  at  least  500 
feet  from  the  bells  and  should  combine  quiet 
and  an  unobstructed  view  of  the  louver  win- 
dows or  the  lantern  of  the  tower.  At  Ant- 
werp such  places  are  the  courtyard  of  the 
Plantyn  Museum  (not  accessible  in  the  even- 
ing) and  the  square  in  front  of  the  Stadhuis 
(noisy  in  the  daytime)  ;  at  Ghent  one  should 
stand  in  S.  Baafsstraat  near  the  entrance  to 
the  curious  miniature  chapel  at  the  north  side 
of  the  cathedral,  and  at  Ypres,  at  the  farther 
end  of  the  Vandenpeereboomplaats.  At 
Bruges,  there  are  several  excellent  places,  the 


126  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

belfry  so  dominates  the  city.  Among  these  are 
Zilverstraat  near  the  corner  of  Giststraat,  and 
the  Dyver.  During  evening  concerts  all  traf- 
fic on  this  quay,  as  well  as  in  the  Groote 
Markt  and  the  Burgplaats,  is  stopped.  At 
Mechlin  too,  traffic  is  stopped  in  the  Groote 
Markt.  This  square,  the  Straatje  zonder 
Einde  and  the  Melaan  are  the  best  places  to 
listen  there.  Quiet  places  at  Middleburg  are 
the  abbey  inclosure  and  the  garden  of  the 
Grand  Hotel  on  the  Lange  Delft.  At  the 
Hague,  the  only  secluded  place  is  in  the  post 
office  courtyard.  At  Haarlem,  I  suggest,  the 
Vaarmersstraat;  at  Delft,  the  canal  bridges 
behind  the  Nieuwe  Kerk;  and  at  Utrecht,  the 
garden  behind  the  police  offices  near  the  Stad- 
huis.  For  one  crossing  the  river  at  Nimeguen 
on  the  old-time  current  ferry,  there  is  a  rare 
view  of  S.  Stephen's,  crowning  the  hill  on 
which  the  city  is  built,  and  there,  on  the  water, 
is  preeminently  the  place  from  which  to  hear 
the  bells. 

In  not  a  few  of  these  towers  the  carillon  has 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       127 

been  played  for  a  hundred  years  or  more  on 
the  same  day  and  at  the  same  hour.  There 
is  a  popular  rhyme  about  the  playing  at 
Mechlin,  which  comes  on  three  successive 
days.    It  runs  like  this: 

"Saturday  for  the  country  folk, 
And  Monday  for  the  city, 
Sunday  for  girls  who  charm  the  men 
And  make  themselves  so  pretty." 

Sunday  concerts,  whether  intended  as  an  aid 
to  courting  or  not,  are  nearly  universal  in  Bel- 
gium. Monday  playing  was  specified  in  the 
rules  governing  the  carillonneur  of  Mechlin 
as  early  as  1617,  that  being  then  the  day  of 
the  town  council  meeting.  The  council  now 
meets  on  another  day,  but  tradition  keeps  the 
play  on  Monday  noon  except  in  the  months 
when  recitals  are  given  Monday  evening.  As 
on  Saturday  at  Mechlin,  so  in  nearly  every 
other  town,  a  morning  concert  is  given  on  the 
day  of  the  market,  which  usually  is  held  in 
the  square  upon  which  the  tower  looks  down. 
Thus  at  Alkmaar  the  bells  are  played  for  the 


128  CARILLONS    OF 

cheese  market,  at  Amersfoort  for  the  general 
market,  at  Amsterdam  for  the  horse  market, 
at  Arnhem  for  the  general  market,  and  so  on. 
And  in  most  other  towns  the  carillon  is  played 
by  the  carillonneur  at  a  fixed  hour  on  the 
market  day. 

Besides  the  times  of  the  horse  markets,  the 
cheese  markets,  the  butter  markets,  the  egg 
markets,  the  grain  markets,  the  cattle  markets, 
the  fish  markets,  and  the  miscellaneous  mar- 
kets, when  the  carillon  is  played,  there  are 
the  national  holidays  and  the  birthdays  of  the 
royal  family  when  the  bells  join  in  the  re- 
joicing. Also  in  all  parts  of  Flanders  and 
Holland  special  local  days  are  celebrated,  as 
at  Briel,  Alkmaar,  and  Leiden.  The  week  of 
the  kermis  in  a  town  of  the  Low  Countries 
usually  calls  for  special  carillon  playing.  At 
Antwerp,  Ypres,  and  other  Belgian  cities,  ex- 
tra concerts  are  given  during  the  week  of  the 
Feast  of  the  Assumption  and  for  other  relig- 
ious festivals.  In  Holland,  in  a  way  corre- 
sponding with  this  festive  playing,  is  the  an- 


Mechlin:  The  Key  Board 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     129 

nual  month-long  welcome  of  spring  when 
"Meideuntjes"  ("May  Songs")  are  given,  as 
at  Middleburg,  Gouda,  and  Utrecht.  And 
most  enjoyable  of  all  are  concerts  in  sum- 
mer evenings  at  Mechlin,  Antwerp,  Bruges, 
Utrecht,  and  several  other  towns. 

The  claviers  are  arranged  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple as  the  manuals  and  pedals  of  the  organ. 
The  measurements  given  in  the  following  de- 
scription are  those  of  the  instrument  at  Mech- 
lin. The  manual  keys  are  commonly  of  oak, 
round,  and  %"  in  diameter,  those  in  the  upper 
row  representing  the  black  notes  of  the  organ 
keyboard  and  projecting  3^".  Those  of  the 
lower  row  correspond  to  the  white  notes  and 
project  6y2 ".  The  vertical  movement  of  the 
keys  when  struck  is  2^".  Pedal  keys  are 
from  one  to  one  and  a  half  octaves  in  compass 
and  are  so  connected  that  these  lower  bells  can 
be  played  either  by  hand  or  by  foot.  The 
upper  row  of  pedals  projects  4"  and  the  lower 
8*4".  The  pedal  board  is  needed  because 
large  bells  require  more  force  to  bring  out 


130  TOWER    MUSIC 

their  tones.  By  inverting  the  bass  of  tunes 
which,  as  written,  call  for  such  bass  bells  as 
are  often  omitted  in  order  to  save  expense, 
their  lack  is  scarcely  felt.  In  early  days  simi- 
lar bass  notes  were  left  out  of  great  church 
organs  and  Hemony's  approval  of  their  omis- 
sion in  carillons  has  already  been  mentioned. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

"Wle  vint  zich  nlet 
Verplicht  uw  ryk  vernuft  te  danken?" 

Poot 

ONE  of  the  earliest  references  to  caril- 
lonneurs  occurs  in  the  records  of  Am- 
sterdam where  we  find  Stoffel  Laur- 
rensz  mentioned  as  such  in  1555.  As  caril- 
lons became  common,  entries  in  the  records  of 
the  town  concerning  the  wages,  allowances, 
and  emoluments  of  carillonneurs  are  frequent. 
In  Amsterdam,  when  carillons  were  bought 
for  the  City  Hall  and  Exchange  towers,  they 
and  whatever  bells  existed  in  the  Jan  Roon 
Gate  were  played  by  one  van  Neck,  for  which 
he  received  527  florins  a  year;  for  playing  in 
the  Old  Church  and  Mint  towers,  one  Haver- 
kamp  had  500  florins;  and  for  the  South 
Church,  Herring  Packers',  and  Montelban's 
towers,  one  van  Dort  received  405  florins. 
Pieter  Pater  was  appointed  to  the  office  of 

131 


132  CARILLONS    OF 

carillonneur  at  the  Hague  about  1670,  and  an 
admirer  celebrated  his  elevation  in  a  verse 
entitled  "A  High  Office": 

"No  place  is  there  higher  on  land  or  on  water; 
No  station  is  higher  of  council  or  town ; 
No  higher  position's  the  gift  of  the  crown ; 
Than  that  which  is  held  now  by  Heer  Pieter  Pater. 
Next  his,  e'en  those  of  his  Highness  seem  small. 
God  bless  thee,  O  Bell-Prince  of  our  ancient  tower! 
For  thousands  feel  daily  the  spell  of  thy  power; 
Next  to  Heaven  thou  art;  in  the  Hague  above  all." 

Of  various  kinds  were  the  employment  con- 
tracts, and  quite  curious  is  one  which  was  re- 
corded in  the  Registry  (kept  since  1303)  of 
Oudenaarde.    It  reads  in  this  wise: 

"I,  the  undersigned  Pieter  Chatelet,  excellent  beiaard- 
ier,  promise  the  guild  of  S.  Jacob  to  play  on  the  beiaard 
on  S.  Jacob's  Day  as  long  as  I  live,  unless  I  am  sick  or 
out  of  town,  for  my  burial  costs. 

Done  the  26  July  1681. 

By  me  P.  Chatelet,   1681." 

Dirck  Scholl,  who,  as  we  saw  in  an  earlier 
chapter,  was  a  verse-maker  himself,  had  verses 
written  in  honour  of  his  musical  gifts  by  Poot 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     133 

while  he  lived;  and  when  he  died,  upon  his 
tomb  in  the  New  Church  at  Delft  was  in- 
scribed: "Here  lies  Dirck  Scholl,  who  for 
more  than  two  and  sixty  years  made  the  caril- 
lon in  the  Nieuwe  Kerk  to  live,"  and'  follow- 
ing this  there  is  mention  of  his  work  as  an  or- 
ganist. 

When  Charles  Burney  came  to  Amsterdam 
in  1772,  he  found  therea  carillonneur  of  great 
fame  whose  playing  he  describes : 

"At  noon  I  attended  M.  Pothoff,  who  is  not  young  and 
totally  blind,  to  the  tower  of  the  Stad-huys  or  town  house 
(now  the  Palace),  of  which  he  is  carillonneur;  he  has 
had  this  employment  many  years,  having  been  elected  to 
it  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  He  had  very  much  astonished 
me  on  the  organ  after  all  I  had  heard  in  the  rest  of  Eu- 
rope; but  in  playing  these  bells  his  amazing  dexterity 
raised  my  wonder  much  higher,  for  he  executed  with  his 
two  hands  passages  that  would  be  very  difficult  to  play 
with  ten  fingers;  shakes,  beats,  swift  divisions,  triplets, 
and  even  arpeggios  he  has  contrived  to  vanquish. 

"He  began  with  a  Psalm  tune,  with  which  their  high 
Mightinesses  are  chiefly  delighted,  and  which  they  re- 
quire at  his  hands  whenever  he  performs,  which  is  on 
Tuesdays  and  Fridays;  he  next  played  variations  upon 
the  Psalm  tune  with  great  fancy  and  even  taste ;  when  he 
had  performed  this  task,  he  was  so  obliging  as  to  play  a 


134  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

quarter  of  an  hour  extempore  in  such  a  manner  as  he 
thought  would  be  more  agreeable  to  me  than  psalmody; 
and  in  this  he  succeeded  so  well  that  I  sometimes  forgot 
both  the  difficulty  and  the  defects  of  the  instrument;  he 
never  played  in  less  than  three  parts,  making  the  bass  and 
the  measures  constantly  with  the  pedals.  I  never  heard 
a  greater  variety  of  passages  in  so  short  a  time;  he  pro- 
duced effects  by  the  pianos  and  fortes  and  the  crescendo 
in  the  shake,  both  as  to  loudness  and  velocity,  which  I 
did  not  think  possible  upon  an  instrument  that  seemed 
to  require  little  other  merit  than  force,  in  the  performer." 

An  even  more  famous  carillonneur  of  the 
same  period,  whose  compositions  both  for  the 
carillon  and  for  the  organ  are  still  in  use,  was 
Matthias  van  den  Gheyn,  son  of  Andreas  van 
den  Gheyn,  the  most  distinguished  founder 
of  that  name.  In  1741,  Matthias  at  the  age 
of  20  became  organist  of  S.  Peter's,  Louvain, 
and  in  1745  the  position  of  carillonneur  be- 
came vacant.  In  the  competition  for  the 
place  that  the  magistrates  ordered,  he  won  a 
notable  victory.  Not  only  did  he  compose 
for  the  carillon,  but  "Every  Sunday,"  Fetis 
tells  us,  "he  improvised  for  half  an  hour,  and 
his  charm  was  such  that  long  before  he  com- 


Amsterdam 

Carillonneur  Vincent  before  his  instrument  in  the  Tower  of  the  Palace, 

where  Pothoff  once  played 

Photograph  by  \Y.  G.  Rice,  Jr. 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       135 

menced,  the  Place  St.  Pierre  and  the  adja- 
cent streets  were  'encombrees  par  la  popula- 
tion.' " 

The  carillon  of  S.  Rombold's  at  Mechlin, 
generally  admitted  to  be  the  finest  that  exists, 
was  saved  from  destruction  in  1792  by  the 
diplomacy  of  Gerard  Gommaire  Haverals, 
the  carillonneur  at  the  time.  The  revolu- 
tionary council  had  decreed  that  the  Mechlin 
bells  should  be  melted  and  made  into  cannon, 
when  Haverals  by  his  eloquence  and  clever- 
ness persuaded  the  French  authorities  that  one 
carillon  should  be  preserved.  Otherwise,  he 
asked,  how  properly  could  be  celebrated  "la 
gloire  de  la  republique?"  A  few  years  later 
the  reaction  came,  and  he  was  given  a  sharp 
reprimand  by  the  town  council  because  of 
the  republican  songs  he  had  played.  His  be- 
loved bells  though  were  safe,  and  so  again  he 
changed  his  tunes  to  suit  changed  times  and 
endured  patiently  the  municipal  castigation. 
Happily  his  devotion  and  skill  were  so  com- 
pelling that  even  political  passions  were  sub- 


136  CARILLONS    OF 

dued  and  he  continued  as  carillonneur  until 
he  died  in  1841,  being  on  the  verge  of  four 
score  years,  and  having  played  the  bells  in  S. 
Rombold's  tower  continuously  since  he  was 
seventeen.  Fetis,  in  his  "Biographie  univer- 
selle  des  musiciens,"  says  of  him: 

"Haverals  was  a  distinguished  artist  of  his  kind.  A 
good  harmonist,  he  executed  on  his  bells  very  difficult 
compositions  in  three  parts,  sonatas,  fantasies,  and  fugues. 
He  also  had  a  remarkable  gift  for  improvising  variations 
upon  popular  melodies." 

Town  records  commonly  mention  the  pay 
of  carillonneurs,  but  their  duties  were  very 
different,  and  as  they  are  not  exactly  specified 
therein,  the  amount  of  pay  is  not  of  much 
value  for  comparison.  Sometimes  the  caril- 
lonneur was  also  organist.  Sometimes  he  did 
all  the  work  of  winding  and  oiling  the  clock 
and  drum  mechanism,  and  again,  he  was  paid 
extra  for  setting  tunes.  In  early  years,  "two 
pairs  of  shoes"  as  at  Tongres,  "house  rent"  as 
at  Amsterdam,  or  even  eggs  often  formed  a 
part  of  the  wages. 


Mechlin:  The  Bells 
This  shows  bells  hung  in  straight  rows,  the  best  arrangement 


BELGIUM   AND   HOLLAND     137 

At  Utrecht  in  1588  the  carillonneur  had  12 
Dutch  pounds,  10  shillings  (75  florins)  each 
half  year  for  which  he  was  to  play  twice  a 
week  "for  the  recreation  of  the  city"  and  to 
take  care  of  the  clock.  He  was  further  re- 
quired to  teach  each  year  one  or  two  pupils 
to  play,  for  which  purpose  the  city  provided 
him  with  a  little  practicing  carillon.  In 
other  towns  the  carillonneur  was  required  to 
instruct  orphans  in  his  art,  as  at  Nivelles. 
Emile  Fourdin  describes  the  conditions  there 
in  1587: 

"At  this  epoch,  the  service  of  the  carillon  was  already 
perfectly  organised  at  Nivelles.  This  service  was  con- 
fided to  a  musician  who  had  charge  of  striking  and  sound- 
ing the  bells  and  of  taking  care  of  the  clock  of  the  belfry 
and  that  of  the  chateau;  he  was  also  required,  as  much 
as  possible,  to  sing  in  the  choir  with  the  other  singers. 

"He  received  each  year,  for  his  services,  the  sum  of 
200  French  pounds  and  six  measures  of  wheat,  besides 
the  emoluments  coming  from  dedications,  marriages, 
burial  services,  anniversaries,  and  votive  masses.  He 
was  forbidden  to  play  immoral  songs  or  improper  airs;  he 
was  required  to  play  hymns  or  ecclesiastical  chants,  proper 
to  a  divine  service. 

"One  other  condition  was  imposed  upon  the  carillon- 


138  TOWER   MUSIC    IN 

neur,  that  was  to  initiate  in  his  art  some  child  from  the 
orphan  house,  designated  by  the  magistrate.  The  alder- 
men exhibited  still  more  their  love  of  the  art:  they  estab- 
lished at  this  same  house  a  carillon  composed  of  seventeen 
little  and  greater  bells,  intended  to  provide  for  the 
musical  instruction  of  the  children,  the  future  carillon- 
neurs." 

At  Alkmaar  in  1684  the  pay  was  500 
guilders  a  year,  very  high  for  that  time,  but 
this  carillonneur  was  evidently  persuasive  for 
he  asked  for  and  got  a  new  carillon  of  35  bells. 
Many  thousands,  the  records  say,  were  present 
at  the  first  concert  in  1688.  At  Middleburg 
the  published  records  cover  the  period  from 
1592  to  1879  and  the  carillonneur's  pay  ranges 
from  12  Dutch  pounds  (72  florins)  in  the  first 
year  mentioned  to  350  florins  in  the  last,  with 
varying  duties. 

I  am  informed  that  the  compensation  of 
the  carillonneur  at  Antwerp  today  is  1800 
francs,  while  at  Mechlin,  it  is  2500  francs, 
and  for  special  play  at  marriages,  the  Mechlin 
carillonneur  has  50  francs.  His  duties  are 
solely  to  play  the  carillon  at  specified  times 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       139 

and  to  set  tunes.  The  oiling  and  winding  of 
all  the  machinery  and  the  care  of  the  clock 
is  the  duty  of  his  assistant,  a  mechanic,  who 
aids  him  in  keeping  the  adjustment  perfect  for 
the  concerts.  For  each  recital  that  he  gives 
at  Antwerp,  the  carillonneur  of  Mechlin  re- 
ceives 150  francs.  While  the  honour  of  being 
a  carillonneur  is  great,  the  pay  is  small.  He 
must  therefore  have  some  other  occupation  to 
supplement  his  salary  from  the  town. 

Of  the  playing  ability  of  the  principal  pres- 
ent day  carillonneurs,  I  shall  speak  in  the  next 
chapter.  But  before  coming  to  that,  I  wish 
to  say  a  few  words  of  their  character  and 
kindness  to  those  who  interest  themselves  in 
their  art. 

It  seems  a  frequent  occurrence  for  carillon 
playing,  like  bell  founding,  to  run  in  a  family. 
I  might  mention  the  three  generations  of  Tex- 
tors  of  Schiedam,  who  have  played  123  years, 
the  Nauwelaerts  of  Lier,  who  have  played 
nearly  one  hundred  years,  Adolf  and  Josef 
Denyn  of  Mechlin,  the  Wagenaars  of  Utrecht, 


140  CARILLONS    OF 

and  several  others.  The  family  tradition  has 
made  such  men  particularly  proud  of  their 
art.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  interest  and 
courtesy  of  these  and  many  other  carillonneurs 
throughout  the  greater  Netherlands,  this  book 
would  never  have  been  written. 

Who  does  not  recall  with  delight  some  week 
among  charming  chateaux  of  the  Loire  or 
think  often  of  a  tour  when  the  radiance  of  the 
stained  glass  of  centuries  past  revealed  itself? 
Who  forgets  his  first  wanderings  among  the 
Gothic  cathedrals  of  France  or  fails  to  re- 
member the  fortnight  when  medieval  times 
lived  for  him  again  in  Italian  hill  towns? 

Above  the  noise  of  a  crowded  street  at  the 
Hague  one  summer  noon  I  heard  the  caril- 
lon of  the  Great  Church  tower.  Bruges  and 
Middleburg  and  Veere  had  just  been  visited. 
They  differed  much  yet  some  common  note 
seemed  to  unite  all  three  and  the  Hague. 
How  was  it  to  be  defined?  In  this  reflective 
mood,  again  my  ear  caught  the  sound  of  the 
bells.     They  answered  the  question.     It  was 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     141 

the  tower  melodies  which  united  these  places, 
individual  as  they  were  in  other  respects. 
Then  came  the  thought:  Why  should  one  not 
see  the  many  carillons  of  the  Low  Countries, 
each  in  its  own  historic  place,  and  write  them 
down  for  foreign  wanderers?  Why  not  a  new 
kind  of  tour,  which,  by  motor  or  on  foot,  by 
bicycle  or  by  boat,  by  road  or  canal  or  rail- 
way, would  show  charms  heretofore  unknown 
to  old  lovers  of  these  lands  and  tell  new  trav- 
ellers things  not  catalogued  in  any  book? 

When  we  first  became  interested  in  Low 
Country  bell  music,  we  applied  to  the  "Cen- 
traal  Bureau  voor  Vreemdelingenverkeer" 
at  the  Hague.  Under  the  shelter  of  that  im- 
posing name  is  found  an  admirable  organisa- 
tion maintained  by  the  railways  of  the  Nether- 
lands. Gratuitously  it  solves  difficulties  for 
the  traveller,  arranges  his  journeys,  and  an- 
swers his  inquiries.  Information  about  caril- 
lons, however,  had  never  before  been  sought 
and  little  was  forthcoming.  Thereupon  we 
set    forth    to    find    the    carillonneur    at    the 


142  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

Hague;  courteously  he  gave  us  suggestions 
and  advised  us  to  consult  the  bell-master  at 
Gouda.  So  we  betook  ourselves  to  Gouda  and 
sought  out  the  enthusiastic  Mr.  van  Zuylen. 
A  friend  of  his,  he  told  us,  had  been  studying 
about  town  clocks  at  the  public  library  and 
the  week  before  had  come  upon  considerable 
information  about  carillons  in  some  old  vol- 
umes. By  the  best  of  good  fortune  it  turned 
out  that  we  were  at  Gouda  on  one  of  the  two 
days  of  each  week  when  the  library  was  open. 
Outside  it  was  a  deluge  of  rain,  with  a 
black  sky.  Within  the  library  we  were  dry, 
it  is  true,  but  there  were  no  lights.  Just  at 
closing  time  the  book  of  most  importance  to 
us  was  discovered.  We  made  good  use  of  the 
minutes  left  and  with  a  fair  list  of  carillon 
towns  safely  recorded  in  our  exploration  note- 
book, we  went  back  to  the  Hague.  That  very 
night  the  most  convenient  of  messengers,  the 
postcard  with  paid  reply,  entered  actively  into 
our  service  and  was  dispatched  to  "Den  Heer 
Klokkenist"  of  the  principal  Dutch  and  Flem- 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       143 

ish  towns.  That  honourable  title  was  sufficient 
without  any  personal  name. 

By  noon  the  next  day  replies  began  to  come 
in.  The  long  time  old  "portier"  at  the  Hotel 
Ouden  Doelen,  so  affectionately  regarded  by 
many  a  traveller,  was  immensely  interested  in 
this  postcard  campaign.  Patriotically  he  had 
corrected  and  improved  the  Dutch  before  the 
cards  went  out.  A  morning  or  two  later  as  he 
held  up  a  dozen  answers  to  his  ear,  as  if  listen- 
ing to  their  message,  he  greeted  me  with: 
"Hush,  I  hear  carillons  ringing  all  through 
the  land."  With  the  answers  came  many  spe- 
cial invitations.  Once  we  were  asked  to  take 
coffee  at  the  house  of  a  carillonneur  after  the 
morning  concert,  and  several  times  a  bell- 
master  volunteered  (if  the  burgomaster  gave 
permission)  to  play  at  some  other  time  than 
the  regular  hour,  if  it  would  convenience  us. 

One  of  the  early  trips  we  made  was  to  Briel, 
where  Mr.  Borstlap,  electrician  by  vocation 
and  carillonneur  by  avocation,  had  obtained 
at  his  own  suggestion  special  permission  to 


144  CARILLONS    OF 

play  for  us.  He  and  his  daughter  were  wait- 
ing to  welcome  us  when  our  boat  arrived. 
To  hear  the  carillon  at  an  unwonted  hour  so 
startled  the  inhabitants  that  the  local  news- 
paper the  following  day  gave  an  account  of 
our  visit.  Both  going  to  and  returning  from 
this  historic  town,  we  passed  through  Vlaar- 
dingen,  which  happened  that  day  to  be  cele- 
brating the  centenary  of  the  departure  of  the 
French  (as  did  all  the  towns  in  the  Kingdom 
at  different  times  during  1913  and  1914),  and 
the  harbour  was  crowded  to  capacity  by  the 
great  fleet  come  home  for  the  occasion.  From 
the  masts  flew  pennants  and  flags ;  everywhere 
the  Dutch  colours  and  the  royal  orange  were 
in  evidence. 

Not  content  with  hearing  one  carillon,  we 
went  also  to  Schiedam  and  Delft  that  day. 
At  Schiedam,  Mr.  Textor,  whose  father  and 
grandfather  have  preceded  him  as  town  bell- 
masters,  received  us  with  great  consideration. 
We  went  with  him  to  the  Old  Church  and  up 
the  stone  stairway  with  whitewashed  walls 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     145 

into  the  tower  room,  where  all  the  machinery- 
was  polished  like  a  mirror.  A  board  fastened 
with  a  padlock  was  inserted  between  the  two 
rows  of  keys  of  the  manual  so  that  he  had 
to  unlock  his  instrument  before  he  sat  down 
to  play  for  us.  Everything,  indeed,  was  in 
perfect  order  and  showed  the  loving  care  of 
the  old  musician.  At  each  end  of  the  clavier 
was  a  large  candle,  which  served  to  illuminate 
the  room  for  his  evening  concerts.  Our  hos- 
pitable friend  would  not  let  us  leave  till  we 
had  gone  to  his  house  and  drunk  with  him  a 
glass  of  Schiedam  schnaps. 

At  Delft,  the  kermis  was  in  progress  and 
though  this  made  hearing  the  bells  almost  im- 
possible, we  greatly  enjoyed  seeing  the  merri- 
ment and  eating  the  many  kinds  of  waffles  and 
poffetjes.  Indeed  a  carillon  enthusiast  should 
ever  be  ready  to  enjoy  other  attractions  as  well 
as  bells. 

Many  other  and  longer  trips  followed,  and 
with  the  pleasure  of  these  excursions  in  mind, 
I  offer  a  few  suggestions  as  to  the  order  in 


146  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

which  the  principal  carillons  may  be  heard, 
though  in  the  Low  Countries  all  the  towns  are 
so  near  one  another,  that  little  foreplanning  is 
needed.  The  carillon  region,  indeed,  has  an 
area  only  about  twice  that  of  Wales  or  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey.  It  is  in  form  almost  a 
right  triangle  with  Malmedy,  southeast  of 
Liege,  at  its  right  angle,  and  with  its  hypoth- 
enuse,  running  from  Boulogne  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Ems,  northeast  of  Groningen,  along 
the  North  Sea  coast-line  of  Belgium  and  Hol- 
land. 

Tours  might  be  as  follows: 

BELGIUM 

I.  Landing  at  Antwerp ;  thence  to  S.  Nik- 
lass,  Ghent,  Bruges,  Ypres,  Courtrai,  Oude- 
naarde,  Aalst,  Louvain,  and  Mechlin. 

HOLLAND 

II.  Landing  at  Rotterdam;  thence  to  Schie- 
dam, Delft,  the  Hague,  Leiden,  Haarlem, 
Alkmaar,  Amsterdam,  Utrecht,  and  Gouda. 

Another  short  tour  could  begin  at  Flushing 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       147 

and  include  Middleburg  and  Veere;  and  in  a 
tour  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  country  one 
should  go  to  Arnhem,  Zutfen,  Kampen,  Gro- 
ningen,  and  Appingedam.  In  Belgium,  Tour- 
nai  and  Mons  can  easily  be  reached  in  a  side 
excursion  from  Courtrai.  The  above  towns 
contain  the  carillons  given  in  the  lists  of  the 
best  in  Chapter  III  and  some  others,  and  in- 
clude examples  of  bells  by  all  the  great 
founders.  It  is  not  supposed  that  it  will 
agree  with  the  plans  of  all  travellers  to  visit 
these  towns  in  the  sequence  here  given.  Ar- 
rangement must  depend  upon  particular 
needs.  A  convenient  programme  can  readily 
be  made  by  consulting  Appendices  A  and  B 
for  the  days  and  hours  of  play  in  each  place. 
However  the  tours  are  arranged,  none  is  com- 
plete without  including  Mechlin  on  some 
Monday  evening  in  June,  August,  or  Sep- 
tember, when  Josef  Denyn  gives  his  concerts. 


CHAPTER   IX 

"Tous    les    maitres    lancent    a    travers    Vespace    leur 
melopees  tendres  ou  plaintives,  ardentes  ou  triomphales." 

N.  Verschave 

MECHLIN'S  has  always  been  num- 
bered among  the  finest  carillons. 
The  name  "beyaert"  was  applied  to 
the  bells  of  S.  Rombold's  tower  for  the  first 
time  in  1556,  and  in  1557  a  carillonneur  was 
appointed  at  a  salary  of  36  florins  a  year.  In 
1563  we  know  there  were  18  bells,  of  which 

10  were  by  Waghevens,  2  came  from  Ant- 
werp, and  the  remaining  6  had  been  part  of 
the  voorslag.  This  carillon  was  already  fa- 
mous in  1575,  for  commissioners  from  Ypres 
came  then  to  examine  it.  In  1583  some  van 
den  Gheyn  bells  were  added  and  soon  after 
that  the  pedal  keys.  During  the  next  century 
bells  were  gradually  added  until  there  were 
29.    In  1679  the  carillon  was  largely  renewed, 

11  of  the  old  bells  being  retained  and  32  new 

148 


Ypres:  The  Cloth  Hall  Tower 
Sketch  by  Jean  Baes 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     149 

ones  purchased  of  Pieter  Hemony,  and  this  is 
essentially  the  carillon  of  today,  details  of 
which  are  given  in  Appendix  D. 

When  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  position 
of  carillonneur  for  so  famous  a  set  of  bells, 
a  competition  was  often  held  in  order  to  select 
the  most  capable  person  to  fill  it.  The  earliest 
contest  of  this  character  was  in  1599,  when 
two  applicants  came  from  Mons  and  one  from 
Dixmude.  But  the  most  important  one  took 
place  in  1788  when  there  were  six  entrants 
from  various  parts  of  Belgium  and  when 
Haverals,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken, 
was  successful.  Other  towns  which  held  the 
art  in  high  esteem  frequently  held  similar  con- 
tests. We  have  this  somewhat  embellished 
account  by  Haweis  of  the  one  at  Louvain  to 
which  allusion  was  made  in  the  preceding 
chapter: 

"On  the  1st  of  July,  1745,  the  town  of  Louvain  was 
astir  at  an  early  hour:  the  worthy  citizens  might  be  seen 
chatting  eagerly  at  their  shop  doors,  and  the  crowd  of 
visitors  who  had  been  pouring  into  the  town  the  day  be- 
fore were  gathering  in  busy  groups  in  the  great  square  of 


150  TOWER   MUSIC    IN 

Louvain,  which  is  bounded  on  one  side  by  the  town  hall, 
and  on  the  other  by  the  church  of  S.  Peter.  Among  the 
crowd  might  be  observed  not  only  many  of  the  most  emi- 
nent musicians  in  Belgium,  but  nobles,  connoisseurs,  and 
musical  amateurs,  who  had  assembled  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  to  hear  the  great  competition  for  the  impor- 
tant post  of  carillonneur  to  the  town  of  Louvain. 

"All  the  principal  organists  of  the  place  were  to  com- 
pete :  and  among  them  a  young  man  aged  twenty- four,  the 
organist  of  S.  Peter's,  who  was  descended  from  the  great 
family  of  bell-founders  in  Belgium,  and  whose  name  was 
already  well  known  throughout  the  country,  Matthias  van 
den  Gheyn. 

"The  nobility,  the  clergy,  the  magistrates,  the  burgo- 
masters— in  short,  the  powers  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  had 
assembled  in  force  to  give  weight  to  the  proceedings.  As 
the  hour  approached,  not  only  the  great  square,  but  all  the 
streets  leading  to  it,  became  densely  thronged,  and  no 
doubt  the  demand  for  windows  at  Louvain,  over  against 
S.  Peter's  tower,  was  as  great  as  the  demand  for  balconies 
in  the  City  of  London  on  Lord  Mayor's  Day. 

"Each  competitor  was  to  play  at  sight  the  airs  which 
were  to  be  given  to  him  at  the  time,  and  the  same  pieces 
were  to  be  given  to  each  in  turn.  To  prevent  all  pos- 
sible collusion  between  the  jury  and  the  players,  no  pre- 
ludes whatever  were  to  be  permitted  before  the  perform- 
ance of  the  pieces,  nor  were  the  judges  to  know  who  was 
playing  at  any  given  moment.  Lots  were  to  be  cast  in 
the  strictest  secrecy,  and  the  players  were  to  take  their 
seats  as  the  lots  fell  upon  them.    The  names  of  the  trial 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       151 

pieces  have  been  preserved,  and  the  curiosity  of  posterity 
may  derive  some  satisfaction  from  the  perusal  of  the  fol- 
lowing list,  highly  characteristic  of  the  musical  taste  of 
that  epoch  in  Belgium:  'La  Folie  d'Hispanie,'  'La  Ber- 
gerie,'  'Caprice,'  and  one  'Andante.' 

"M.  Loret  got  through  his  task  very  creditably.  Next 
to  him  came  M.  Leblancq,  who  completely  broke  down 
in  'La  Bergerie,'  being  unable  to  read  the  music.  M.  van 
Driessche  came  third,  and  gave  general  satisfaction.  M. 
de  Laet  was  fourth,  but  he  too  found  the  difficulties  of 
'La  Bergerie'  insuperable,  and  gave  it  up  in  despair. 
Lastly  came  Matthias  van  den  Gheyn ;  and  before  he  got 
through  his  task,  the  judges  and  the  great  assembly  be- 
sides had  probably  made  up  their  minds;  there  was  no 
comparison  between  him  and  his  predecessors.  Loret 
and  van  Driesscher,  both  eminent  professors,  were  indeed 
placed  second,  but  beyond  all  shadow  of  a  doubt  the  last 
competitor  was  the  only  man  worthy  to  make  carillon 
music  for  the  town  and  neighbourhood  of  Louvain,  and 
accordingly  van  den  Gheyn  was  duly  installed  in  the 
honourable  post  of  carillonneur,  which  he  held  conjointly 
with  that  of  organist  of  S.  Peter's.  His  duties  consisted 
in  playing  the  bells  every  Sunday  for  the  people,  also  on 
all  the  regular  festivals  of  the  Church,  on  the  municipal 
feast-days,  besides  a  variety  of  special  occasions — in  short, 
whenever  the  town  thought  fit.  He  was  bound  to  have 
his  bells  in  tune,  and  forbidden  to  allow  any  one  to  take 
his  place  as  deputy  on  the  great  occasions.  His  salary 
was  small,  but  there  were  extra  fees  awarded  him  upon 
great  occasions,  and,  on  the  whole,  he  doubtless  found  his 


152  CARILLONS    OF 

post  tolerably  lucrative,  without  being  by  any  means  a 
sinecure." 

When  carillons  were  inaugurated,  experts 
frequently  met  to  pass  upon  the  work.  Gre- 
goir  mentions  one  of  these  assemblies  at 
Bruges  in  1743  when  the  bells  of  Dumery, 
still  famous  today,  were  judged  "the  most  ar- 
tistic and  best  attuned  in  Europe."  Again  at 
Bruges,  in  19 12,  there  was  a  competition  for 
prizes  for  playing,  which  carillonneurs  from 
many  parts  of  Belgium  entered.  The  mani- 
festation at  that  time  of  the  mechanical  de- 
fects of  this  instrument  led  to  its  rearrange- 
ment and  improvement  two  years  later,  so  that 
it  is  now  in  excellent  shape. 

Mechlin,  too,  has  recently  been  the  scene  of 
prize  competitions,  one  on  June  27,  1897,  of 
minor  importance,  and  one  on  August  21  and 
22,  1910,  which,  according  to  the  Musical 
Standard  (London),  was  attended  by  30,000 
people.  No  other  event  in  carillon  history 
brought  together  so  large  a  list  of  competi- 
tors.   From  Belgium  came  eight  professionals 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     153 

and  two  amateurs  and  from  Holland  five 
professionals  and  one  amateur.  Of  the  five 
judges,  one  was  from  England.  The  address 
of  the  President,  Mr.  Denyn,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  report  of  the  judges  is  printed  in 
Appendix  E.  This  report,  written  by  Mr. 
Denyn,  is  not  only  a  careful  estimate  of  the 
merits  and  defects  of  each  competitor,  but  em- 
bodies also  what  is  virtually  a  treatise  on  the 
capabilities  of  the  carillon  and  the  rules  which 
should  govern  the  choice  of  music  for  playing. 
It  is  a  century  and  a  half  after  van  den 
Gheyn's  playing  inspired  the  crowds  at  Lou- 
vain  that  we  see  again  a  master  of  the  art 
(and  with  him  many  competing  carillon- 
neurs)  delighting  gathered  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple. Of  this  E.  B.  Osborn,  in  a  special  article 
on  "Carillon  Music,"  gives  an  account,  an  ac- 
count not  based  on  tradition,  but  of  what  he 
himself  saw  and  heard: 

"It  was  not  until  I  heard  the  chief  bell-masters  of  Bel- 
gium and  Holland  playing  on  the  great  carillon  at  Mech- 
lin in  August  1910  that  the  range  and  power  of  the  key- 


154  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

board  carillon  were  fully  revealed  to  me.  It  was  a  fes- 
tival of  carillon  players.  The  King  of  the  Belgians  had 
offered  prizes  for  the  best  executants,  and  throughout  the 
two  days  of  competition  the  great  square  of  the  Groote 
Markt  was  thronged  with  eager  and  attentive  listeners. 
Mr.  Denyn's  recital  (following  the  competition)  was 
the  most  memorable  concert  I  have  ever  heard,  and  was 
a  revelation  not  only  of  his  amazing  virtuosity  but  also 
of  the  possibilities,  explored  and  unexplored,  of  the  art 
of  bell  music.  The  first  piece  was  a  stately  and  sonorous 
Prelude,  which  might  have  been  written  by  Bach,  and 
was  Mr.  Denyn's  own  composition,  a  long-meditated 
tribute  to  the  occasion.  Peter  Benoit's  "Myn  Moeder- 
spraak"  was  rendered  with  bewitching  delicacy.  But  per- 
haps the  most  interesting  and  instructive  of  Mr.  Denyn's 
selections  was  a  set  of  ancient  French  ditties  made  for 
carillons  at  various  dates.  This  was  really  a  brief  and 
delightful  history  of  the  evolution  of  bell  music." 

In  general  Mr.  Denyn  begins  a  concert 
with  some  brilliant  piece,  which  immediately 
takes  his  audience  captive  and  compels  its  at- 
tention, something  perhaps  by  Verdi  or  Bach. 
Toward  the  middle  of  the  programme  come 
pieces  which  require  the  utmost  skill,  such  as 
a  sonata  by  Nicolai  or  a  work  of  some  ancient 
composer,  like  Pleyel  or  Kraft,  which  he  has 
adapted  to  the  carillon  in  a  marvellous  fash- 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       155 


ion.  The  concert  usually  ends  with  music  ex- 
pressing deep  emotions,  a  stirring  piece  by 
Benoit  or  a  tender  song  by  Schubert.  Besides 
the  brilliant  numbers,  in  every  programme 
will  be  found  one  or  two  groups  of  simple  airs, 
folk-songs  or  the  like.  Handsomely  printed 
pamphlets  giving  the  programme  of  the  sum- 
mer evening  concerts  are  issued  in  four  lan- 
guages with  illustrations  and  other  informa- 
tion at  Antwerp  and  Mechlin.  Mr.  Denyn's 
concert  on  July  9,  19 14,  at  Antwerp  is  fairly 
typical : 

1.  Jerusalem 

2.  a)    Consciencelied 
b)   Bede 

3.  a)   Lob  der  Thrdnen 

b)  Romanze  aus  Rosamunde 

c)  Fruhlingsglaube 

4.  Sonate  HI 

5.  a)   Myn  hart  is  vol  verlangen 

b)  Heeft  het  roosje  milde  geuren 

c)  Myn  Moederspraak 


G.  Verdi 

Jef  Van  Hoof 
John  Dledrich 

Fr.  Schubert 

V.  Nicolai 

»  Peter  Benoit 


Nor  is  Denyn  solely  a  great  virtuoso.     He 
is  also  a  rejuvenator  of  an  ancient  art.     For 


156  CARILLONS    OF 

besides  some  forty  evening  concerts  he  gives 
each  summer,  in  various  places,  he  has  at 
other  seasons  rearranged  the  keyboards  and 
connections  in  many  towers,  among  them  Ant- 
werp, Louvain,  Mons,  and  Bruges,  and  is 
often  called  in  consultation  where  improve- 
ments are  contemplated. 

At  any  time  Mechlin  is  an  interesting  place, 
but  on  Monday,  July  i,  1912,  it  was  particu- 
larly so.  The  city  was  decked  with  flags ;  the 
great  bells  were  ringing;  the  carillon  was 
played  by  the  finest  players  of  Belgium  and 
Holland,  and  for  the  lovers  of  bell  music,  it 
was  a  day  of  rejoicing.  The  celebration  was 
in  honour  of  Josef  Denyn,  for  twenty-five 
years  city  carillonneur.  All  the  festivities 
were  of  a  national  character,  in  which  people 
of  every  rank — from  the  King  and  Queen  to 
the  humblest  citizen — took  part.  During  the 
day  many  gifts  came  to  the  illustrious  caril- 
lonneur from  his  admirers  and  friends.  The 
most  touching  of  them  all  was  a  simple  bou- 
quet of  flowers  presented  by  a  blind  woman 


BELGIUM   AND   HOLLAND     157 

on  behalf  of  the  colony  of  laceworkers  who 
said  they  wished  to  show  their  appreciation  of 
his  playing  which  for  many  years  had  been  a 
solace  and  joy  to  them  during  their  hours  of 
labour. 

First  of  the  day's  proceedings  was  the  ar- 
rival of  the  new  bell  from  the  foundry  of  van 
Aerschodt.  This  was  set  up  in  the  Grand' 
Place  and  exhibited  throughout  the  day.  It 
had  been  subscribed  for  by  the  public  and  pre- 
sented to  Mr.  Denyn  to  be  placed  in  the 
famous  carillon  to  replace  a  defective  bell  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  instrument.  On  it  is  a 
medallion  portrait  of  Josef  Denyn  with  this 
inscription  in  Flemish : — "To  the  great  caril- 
lonneur,  Jef  Denyn,  from  an  admiring  pub- 
lic." 

In  the  afternoon  a  carillon  recital  was  given 
in  honour  of  the  occasion  by  the  best  players 
of  Belgium  and  Holland.  Carillonneurs  Re- 
doute  of  Mons,  Igodt  of  Ypres,  van  Zuylen  of 
Gouda,  Nauwelaerts,  then  of  Lier,  now  of 
Bruges,  and  many  others  took  part.    This  re- 


158  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

cital  made  evident  the  very  great  advance 
made  in  playing  during  the  previous  ten  years 
and  showed  that  at  the  present  time  such  play- 
ing is  of  greater  artistic  excellence  than  ever 
before. 

In  the  evening  just  before  eight  o'clock  as 
Mr.  Denyn  approached  the  tower  door  of  S. 
Rombold's,  he  must  have  been  thrilled  and 
inspired  by  the  immense  audience  numbering, 
so  the  Musical  Times  (London)  says,  between 
20,000  and  40,000  people,  who  assembled  to 
do  him  honour  and  to  testify  their  good  will 
and  show  their  appreciation  of  his  genius.  As 
the  hour  finished  striking,  the  carillon  sounded 
and  the  great  carillonneur  held  his  immense 
audience  spellbound  with  a  performance  of 
van  den  Gheyn's  difficult  third  Prelude.  All 
through  the  concert  he  played  with  great  ex- 
pression and  power  and  nothing  more  beauti- 
ful can  be  imagined  than  the  exquisite  treat- 
ment of  the  eighteenth  century  melody,  "Je 
n'irai  plus  au  bois"  or  the  real  life  imparted  to 
the  sixteenth  century  dance,  "La  Romanesca." 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       159 

Immediately  after  the  concert,  a  procession 
was  formed  in  which  all  the  societies  of  the 
city  were  represented.  They  marched  to  the 
accompaniment  of  the  ringing  of  the  great 
bell  and  the  playing  of  national  melodies  on 
the  carillon,  to  the  Concert  Hall  in  Merode- 
straat.  This  large  room  was  soon  filled  to  its 
utmost  capacity.  The  chair  was  taken  by 
the  Burgomaster,  Mr.  Dessain,  who  was  sup- 
ported by  many  officials,  provincial  and  muni- 
cipal. The  chairman,  in  opening  the  proceed- 
ings, announced  amid  tumultuous  applause 
that  the  King  had  conferred  upon  Mr.  Denyn 
"La  Croix  de  Chevalier  de  POrdre  de  Leo- 
pold" and  then  read  a  telegram  of  congratula- 
tion from  the  King  and  Queen.  He  pinned  on 
Mr.  Denyn  the  medal  of  the  First  Class  for 
twenty-five  years  of  distinguished  service  to 
his  country.  Besides  this  he  gave  him  a  medal 
from  the  City  of  Mechlin. 

The  new  bell  was  then  formally  presented 
and  finally  came  the  gift  of  the  great  album 
containing  autographic  notes  expressing  many 


160  CARILLONS    OF 

times  the  sentiment  that  it  was  Josef  Denyn 
that  had  made  his  countrymen  turn  their  at- 
tention again  to  the  bell  music  of  their  fathers, 
and  with  this  were  bound  colour  sketches  and 
brief  musical  compositions,  the  whole  being 
a  unique  tribute  from  over  a  hundred  well 
known  public  men,  musicians,  poets,  and 
artists. 

When  the  presentation  had  been  finished, 
Mr.  W.  W.  Starmer  said,  on  behalf  of  ad- 
mirers of  bell  music  in  foreign  lands: 

"The  great  Handel  is  credited  with  the  statement  that 
the  bell  is  the  English  national  instrument,  and  centuries 
ago  England  was  called  the  ringing  isle.  We  love  the 
music  of  the  bells,  but  our  change  ringing — clever  as  it  is 
— possesses  none  of  the  artistic  merits  of  carillon  playing, 
of  which  you  are  a  consummate  master.  You  know  to 
the  greatest  nicety  the  capabilities  of  your  instrument; 
your  artistic  perception  unfailingly  directs  you  as  to  the 
best  music  for  it;  your  executive  skill,  in  which  you  have 
no  equal,  and  other  qualifications  give  you  the  highest 
position  as  an  artist.  Long  may  you  live  to  maintain 
and  excel  in  the  best  traditions  of  your  art." 

This  speech  was  received  with  great  en- 
thusiasm, and  Mr.  Denyn,  much  affected  by 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     161 

the  honours  and  tributes  that  had  come  to  him, 
briefly  replied.  So  passed  a  day  which  will 
ever  be  memorable. 

The  fear  has  often  been  expressed  that  a 
time  might  come  when  the  art  which  recently 
has  blossomed  so  richly  would  again  fade  and 
its  perfection  in  our  own  day  remain  only  a 
memory.  But  happily  a  movement  is  under 
way  which  will  preserve  the  attainments  al- 
ready made  and  educate  skilled  players  for 
the  future.  This  movement  has  as  its  aim  the 
establishment  of  a  carillon  school  under  the 
direction  of  Josef  Denyn  at  Mechlin.  Prop- 
erly equipped  with  means  for  practice  and 
affording  competent  instruction,  such  a  school 
should  have  a  constant  quota  of  students  from 
all  the  carillon  region  and  could  soon  furnish 
many  well  qualified  players.  Belgium  pos- 
sesses five  great  carillons,  those  at  Antwerp, 
Bruges,  Ghent,  Louvain  (S.  Peter's),  and 
Mechlin,  all  with  large  range,  perfected  cla- 
vier, and  adjustments  of  the  most  modern  sort. 
Following  them  come  ten  others  of  the  first 


162  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

order,  instruments  of  smaller  compass  and  less 
perfect  mechanism,  but  capable  of  being  made 
as  good  as  any  without  great  expense.  Be- 
sides these,  Belgium  has  some  thirty  or  forty 
other  carillons  whose  pleasure-giving  ability, 
to  say  the  least,  can  be  greatly  increased.  In 
Holland,  too,  though  it  now  contains  no  in- 
struments equal  to  Belgium's  first  five,  we  find 
great  possibilities  for  development.  Each  of 
these  carillons  ought  to  be  made  an  artistic 
force  in  its  community,  an  element  in  the 
higher  education  of  the  race  to  whom  this 
form  of  music  is  peculiar.  There  are  already 
a  score  of  men  capable  of  giving  excellent 
concerts.  Most,  if  not  all,  of  those  now  quali- 
fied have  gained  their  technical  skill  by  con- 
tact with  or  teaching  by  Denyn  himself. 
Fully  one  hundred  are  needed  to  supply  all 
the  carillons  now  equipped  with  keyboards. 
The  municipality  of  Mechlin  has  offered 
the  necessary  housing  for  the  school  with  heat, 
light,  and  care,  while  the  national  government 
has  decided  to  grant  an  annual  subvention 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       163 

toward  the  teaching  expenses.  Thus  has  been 
made  a  provision  for  about  one-half  the  esti- 
mated annual  expense  of  11,000  francs  neces- 
sary to  carry  on  such  an  enterprise.  The  hope 
is  that  from  private  sources  will  come  gifts  in 
the  form  of  endowment  that  will  supplement 
the  support  already  pledged  and  establish  the 
project  upon  a  permanent  basis.  The  scheme 
of  instruction,  including  both  theoretical  and 
practical  courses,  has  been  thus  outlined:  The 
instrument,  bell  tones,  tuning,  founding,  key- 
board system  and  transmission;  History  of 
bells,  of  foundries,  of  carillon  development; 
Visits  to  foundries  and  principal  carillons; 
Technique,  arpeggios,  interpretation,  adapta- 
tion, execution,  effects  and  programme  mak- 
ing; and,  finally,  Elementary  harmony,  prac- 
tice in  counterpoint  and  composition.  There 
would  also  be  provided  miniature  practising 
carillons,  such  as  existed  in  the  past.  For  one 
cannot  shut  a  regular  carillon  up  in  a  sound- 
proof room  or  close  the  openings  of  a  tower 
and  seclude  its  sound  when  the  learner  prac- 


164  CARILLONS 

tices.  The  first  struggles  with  the  keys  now 
are  known  to  all  and  are  disagreeable  both 
subjectively  and  objectively. 

One  young  Belgium  girl  got  her  first  prac- 
tice, so  she  told  me,  while  the  automatic  hour 
play  was  taking  place.  So  she  came  to  know 
the  feeling  of  the  keys  in  action,  and  listeners, 
mystified  perhaps,  laid  to  a  disordered  auto- 
matic mechanism  the  confusion  of  sounds  that 
resulted.  This  gave  her  but  about  four  min- 
utes practice  at  most  each  hour,  but  it  was  an 
experience  she  could  get  in  no  other  way  with- 
out attracting  the  attention  of  the  entire  town. 

Earnestly  may  we  hope  that  the  dreadful 
destruction  which  is  an  element  of  war  may 
not  so  impoverish  Belgium  in  either  men 
or  resources  that  the  establishment  of  this 
school  and  the  steady  development  of  carillon 
playing  shall  long  be  hindered. 


CHAPTER   X 

"En  die  van  Mechelen  spant  zekerlyk  de  kroon." 

Anonymous 

AN  Antwerp  friend  to  whom  we  had 
described  the  charm  of  the  Dutch 
carillons  and  of  those  we  had  heard 
in  Belgium,  and  the  excellent  playing  of  the 
different  carillonneurs  in  many  places,  would 
listen  with  courteous  interest  and  then,  when 
we  had  finished,  would  look  up  with  a  smile 
and  say,  "But  you  have  not  yet  heard  Mr. 
Denyn.    Wait!" 

We  felt  that  he  spoke  with  judgment  and 
knowledge,  for  he  had  been  at  the  great  con- 
test in  1910  at  Mechlin,  where  carillonneurs 
of  the  two  countries  had  assembled,  to  play 
in  turn  in  a  two-days'  contest  on  the  bells  of 
S.  Rombold's  tower,  after  which  the  King's 
prize  had  been  awarded  to  the  most  accurate 
and  most  finished  competitor.  That  outdoor 
scene  of  which  he  told  us,  the  Grand'  Place 

165 


166  TOWER   MUSIC    IN 

filled  with  thousands  of  eager  listeners,  some- 
how suggests  a  splendid  finale  of  an  opera. 
It  was  with  unusual  interest  then,  that  we  set 
forth  for  Mechlin  to  hear  the  master  carillon- 
neur  give  one  of  his  famous  Monday  evening 
concerts. 

Mechlin  lies  midway  between  Antwerp  and 
Brussels  and  is  reached  by  train  from  either 
city  in  half  an  hour.  It  was  once  the  centre 
of  great  political  and  ecclesiastic  activity,  and 
is  still  the  seat  of  the  Primate  of  Belgium. 
Much  of  its  charm  remains  and  there  is  de- 
lightful repose  in  the  old  streets  where  many 
picturesque  gables  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth century  houses,  so  characteristic  of  the 
Flemish  Netherlands,  look  down  upon  the 
traveller.  In  the  street  of  the  Twelve  Apos- 
tles there  is  a  small  Beguinage,  and  near  it  a 
lace  making  school  where  the  sisters  teach 
children  to  make  the  famous  Mechlin  lace. 
The  River  Dyle  winds  in  and  out  through  the 
city  in  a  charming  manner,  past  quaint  houses 
and  ancient  quays,  where  verdure  takes  root 


Josef  Denyn  of  Mechlin:  The  Great  Bell-Master 


THE    LOW    COUNTRIES       167 

in  the  joints  of  the  stones  and  is  reflected  in 
the  peaceful  water.  An  air  of  great  tranquil- 
lity dwells  in  the  entire  city,  and  as  if  to  em- 
phasise this — and  to  approve  it — high  above 
the  red  roofs  and  fine  trees,  rises  the  splendid 
square  tower  of  S.  Rombold's  Cathedral,  a 
serene  and  noble  landmark. 

In  a  Continental  European  town,  the  con- 
trast between  the  day's  occupations  and  the 
gayety  of  evening  is  marked.  Animated 
groups  of  men  and  women,  many  of  them 
bareheaded,  stroll  up  and  down  the  streets  or 
stop  to  talk  with  other  groups,  giving  a  joyous 
tone  to  the  entire  scene.  On  reaching  Mechlin 
we  found  unusual  festivity  because  of  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption.  Gay 
crowds  filled  the  streets  and  many  of  the  peo- 
ple were  walking  toward  the  Groote  Markt 
or  Grand'  Place  where  the  life  of  smaller 
Flemish  cities  centres. 

As  there  was  yet  a  full  hour  before  the  con- 
cert, we  drove  to  Mr.  Denyn's  house — for  the 
Denyns'  were  already  our  good  friends — and 


168  CARILLONS    OF 

taking  the  three  youngest  children  in  the  car- 
riage with  us,  started  for  a  short  tour  about 
the  town.  The  children  were  delighted  and 
talked  incessantly.  At  one  point  they  made 
us  notice  that  people  were  bringing  out  chairs 
and  placing  them  in  rows  in  a  park  near  the 
cathedral  tower,  and  they  explained  that  this 
was  always  done  on  the  nights  when  "papa" 
played.  Then  one  of  them  confided  to  us  it 
was  "la  fete  de  mamman";  so  we  drove  to  a 
flower  shop  to  buy  a  few  roses.  All  three  chil- 
dren eagerly  jumped  out  of  the  carriage  and 
went  in  with  us  to  help  choose  the  flowers,  and 
the  shop-keeper  and  her  husband  and  three 
friends  who  had  stopped  for  an  evening  chat 
all  aided  and  applauded  our  choice. 

Finally  the  coachman  called  in  to  us  with 
much  excitement  that  it  was  nearing  eight 
o'clock,  and  we  must  at  once  go  back,  for  his 
carriage  would  not  be  allowed  to  cross  the 
Grand'  Place  after  the  eight  o'clock  bell  in 
S.  Rombold's  tower  ceased  to  toll.  We  there- 
fore  started   hastily   for   the   Denyn   house, 


BELGIUM    AND    HOLLAND     169 

dropped  the  children  bearing  their  flowers 
and  drove  across  the  square  as  fast  as  our  horse 
would  take  us. 

We  had  barely  turned  into  the  Grand'  Place 
when  the  carillon  began  to  play  the  melody 
that  precedes  the  striking  of  the  hour.  It  was 
eight  o'clock!  The  Groote  Markt  was  filled 
with  people,  some  standing,  but  most  of  them 
sitting  at  small  tables  outside  cafes,  and  as  the 
bells  began  to  play,  the  talking  and  laughter 
grew  less  and  last  preparations  were  made  for 
the  enjoyment  of  the  concert.  Our  carriage 
was  the  only  one  in  sight;  the  coachman 
snapped  his  whip  again  and  again  until  he 
started  the  horse  into  a  run.  Galloping  across 
the  great  square  and  into  a  narrow  street,  we 
stopped  before  the  entrance  of  a  small  school, 
the  garden  of  which  was  our  destination,  since 
there  the  carillon  could  be  heard  to  the  great- 
est advantage.  Our  arrival  was  accomplished 
in  the  utmost  haste,  for  the  great  deep  bell  be- 
gan to  toll  the  hour  as  we  descended  from 
the  carriage.    Having  left  us,  our  coachman 


170  TOWER    MUSIC    IN 

whipped  his  tired  horse  again  into  a  gallop 
and  dashed  off  into  the  dusk. 

In  answer  to  our  ring,  a  panel  of  the  great 
door  was  opened  by  a  woman  who  held  in 
her  left  hand  a  large  old-fashioned  lantern 
lighted  by  a  candle.  "Bon  soir,  Madame  et 
Messieurs,"  she  said  smilingly.  Then  in  a 
hurried  whisper  she  added,  "II  faut  vous 
depecher"  and,  leading  the  way,  quickly  con- 
ducted us  through  a  long  paved  yard  into  the 
pleasant  school  garden.  Just  as  we  reached 
it,  the  last  stroke  of  eight  o'clock  sounded. 

In  these  northern  countries  the  day  is  long 
even  in  late  August,  and  it  was  still  twilight. 
Against  the  southern  sky,  framed  in  by  two 
dark  trees  in  the  foreground,  rose  the  broad, 
rugged  tower  of  S.  Rombold's.  High  up, 
near  the  top  of  the  tower,  from  a  narrow  open- 
ing shone  out  a  faint,  dull  light. 

After  the  bell  ceased  striking,  and  the  vi- 
bration of  its  deep  and  solemn  tone  had  died 
away,  there  was  silence.  So  long  a  silence  it 
seemed,  so  absolute,  that  we  wondered  if  it 


THE    LOW   COUNTRIES       171 

ever  was  to  be  broken.  Then  pianissimo,  from 
the  highest,  lightest  bells,  as  if  not  to  startle 
us,  and  from  far,  far  above  the  tower,  it 
seemed — indeed  as  if  very  gently  shaken  from 
the  sky  itself — came  trills  and  runs  that  were 
angelic!  Rapidly  they  grew  in  volume  and 
majesty  as  they  descended  the  scale  until  the 
entire  heaven  seemed  full  of  music.  Seated 
in  the  garden  we  watched  the  little  light  in 
the  tower,  where  we  knew  the  unseen  carillon- 
neur  sat  at  his  clavier  and  drew  the  music 
from  his  keys,  and  yet  as  we  watched  and  lis- 
tened, we  somehow  felt  that  the  music  came 
from  somewhere  far  beyond  the  tower,  far 
higher  than  that  dim  light,  and  was  produced 
by  superhuman  hands.  Sometimes  in  winter 
after  icicles  have  formed,  there  comes  a  thaw, 
and  one  by  one  they  tinkle  down  gently  and 
timidly  at  first;  then  bolder  in  a  mass  they 
come  till,  like  an  avalanche,  they  crash  down 
with  a  mighty  roar.  All  of  this  the  music  sug- 
gested. It  was  low,  it  was  loud;  it  was  from 
one  bell,  it  was  from  chords  of  many  bells;  it 


172  CARILLONS    OF 

was  majestic,  it  was  simple.  And  every  note 
seemed  to  fall  from  above,  from  such  heights 
that  the  whole  land  heard  its  beauty.  It  was 
as  if  a  great  master  had  said:  "I  am  no  longer 
content  to  sit  at  my  cathedral  organ  and  give 
pleasure  to  a  few  hundreds  only;  I  must  give 
joy  to  thousands."  So  he  mounts  the  cathedral 
tower,  and  plays  his  sonata,  or  his  prelude,  or 
his  songs  upon  the  great  clavier,  so  that  all  the 
world  may  hear.  With  this  feeling,  we  lis- 
tened that  evening  to  van  den  Gheyn's  "Pre- 
lude" and  to  the  Andante  and  Allegro  from 
Rossini's  "Barbier  de  Seville"  and  to  old  Bel- 
gian and  French  folk  songs.  Here  was  no 
petty  cleverness,  but  a  splendid  master-hand 
bringing  out  from  his  mighty  instrument  not 
alone  grand,  sublime  effects,  but  also  the  ten- 
derest  shades  of  feeling  that  awaken  both 
memory  and  aspiration.  Indeed,  the  tower 
seemed  a  living  being,  opening  its  lips  in  the 
mysterious  night  to  pour  out  a  great  and  noble 
message  of  song  to  all  mankind. 

As  the  hour  passed,  daylight  died,  but  the 


BELGIUM   AND    HOLLAND     173 

tower  grew  more  distinct  in  the  light  of  the 
full  moon  rising  over  the  trees.  We  had  pro- 
grammes which  we  passed  in  silence  to  one  an- 
other, and  if  there  was  occasion  to  speak,  we 
spoke  in  whispers.  It  seemed  that  if  we 
moved  or  spoke  aloud,  the  tower,  the  far  away 
light,  and  the  music  might  all  vanish.  Noth- 
ing we  had  ever  experienced  had  been  like 
this.  Sometimes  the  sounds  were  so  low  that 
we  found  ourselves  bending  forward  to  hear 
them.  They  seemed  to  come  from  an  infinite 
distance,  so  faint  and  delicate  were  they. 
Then  at  other  times,  great  chords,  in  the  vol- 
ume of  many  organs,  burst  forth  rapturously! 

The  concert  ended  promptly  at  nine  with 
the  national  air  of  Belgium.  Directly  after 
this  the  great  bell  slowly,  solemnly  struck  the 
hour.  Leaving  the  quiet  garden,  we  walked 
back  to  the  square  where  all  was  liveliness 
again. 

At  the  foot  of  the  tower  we  waited  for  Mr. 
Denyn.  He  soon  appeared  at  its  door  in  hap- 
piest mood,  and  leaving  his  lantern  for  the 


174  TOWER   MUSIC    IN 

watchman  who  spends  the  whole  night  in  the 
tower  to  keep  guard  over  the  sleeping  city, 
he  joined  us,  giving  us  the  friendliest  of  greet- 
ings in  French.  As  he  dons  for  his  work, 
which  is  far  more  strenuous  than  is  the  play- 
ing of  any  other  musical  instrument,  a  special 
costume  kept  in  the  tower  room,  he  came  out 
looking  neat  and  cool  and  ready  to  enjoy  with 
his  friends  the  remainder  of  the  evening.  In- 
vited by  him,  we  went  to  the  Cheval  d'Or,  a 
little  cafe  nearby.  Here  we  came  upon  a 
scene  of  much  gayety,  one  which  was  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  quietness  of  the  sur- 
roundings in  which  we  had  spent  the  last  hour. 
As  we  entered,  many  rose  in  honour  of  Mr. 
Denyn,  and  coming  forward  grasped  his  hand 
and  expressed  in  Flemish  their  delight  in  his 
playing.  He  invited  us  to  sit  down  with  him, 
and  to  have  coffee  or  beer.  As  we  sat  to- 
gether, after  the  greetings  of  the  crowd  were 
over,  he  spoke  at  length  and  with  enthusiasm 
of  the  powerful  influence  music  had  in  pro- 
moting a  nation's  happiness.    And  he  said  that 


THE    LOW   COUNTRIES       175 

in  giving  these  concerts  which  thousands  en- 
joy, he  felt  he  was  contributing  something  to 
the  education  of  the  people.  But  the  time  for 
our  return  to  Antwerp  drew  near  and  so,  with 
mysteriously  moving  thoughts  of  the  past, 
awakened  by  his  music,  and  with  feelings  of 
aspiration,  we  parted  from  this  large-hearted, 
simple  man,  the  master  bell-master. 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX  A 
LIST  OF  CARILLONS   IN   HOLLAND 

IN  this  list,  which  is  intended  to  include  all 
the  carillons  existing  (together  with  sev- 
eral that  have  been  destroyed)  in  the 
Koninkryk  der  Nederlanden,  the  towns  are 
arranged  in  alphabetic  order,  according  to 
their  Netherlandish  (and  therefore  true) 
names.  Following  the  name  of  the  town  is 
the  province  in  which  it  is  situated,  likewise 
in  Dutch.  Next  comes  the  building  in  the 
tower  of  which  the  bells  hang.  Churches 
have  usually  two  names,  as  Groote  Kerk  or 
Sint  Laurenskerk  (at  Alkmaar  and  at  Rot- 
terdam), but  I  have  used  only  the  more  famil- 
iar. Then  is  given  the  number  of  bells  com- 
posing the  carillon  (usually  excluding  bells 
not  playable  from  the  clavier)  with  the  name 
of  their  founder  and  the  date  of  their  casting. 

179 


180  APPENDICES 

Finally  come  the  name  of  the  bell-master 
and  the  time  when  he  plays.  In  this  connec- 
tion, it  may  be  remarked  that  the  carillonneur 
is  nearly  always  glad  to  play  at  other  times, 
but  in  most  towns  the  permission  of  the  burgo- 
master or  the  town  council  is  required;  so  ar- 
rangement must  be  made  beforehand.  Be- 
sides the  weekly  playings  noted,  there  are 
concerts  on  some  or  all  of  the  royal  birthdays 
— April  19  (Prince  Henry),  April  30  (Prin- 
cess Juliana),  August  2  (Queen  Emma),  and 
August  31  (Queen  Wilhelmina) — and  in  dis- 
tricts predominantly  Roman  Catholic  (Lim- 
burg  and  Noord  Brabant)  on  certain  festivals, 
such  as  Shrove  Tuesday  and  Mid-Lent.  Also 
I  would  call  attention  to  the  special  music  in 
many  towns  during  the  month  of  May.  Not 
only  is  there  additional  concert  play  at  this 
season,  but  the  tunes  selected  are  chiefly  mei- 
deuntjes  or  May  ditties,  expressing  the  pop- 
ural  rejoicing  that  winter  has  departed  and 
that  spring  has  come. 

The  phrase  among  the  best  indicates  that  the 


APPENDICES  181 

carillon  to  which  it  refers  is  included  in  the 
list  given  in  Chapter  III. 

From  the  gallery  of  every  tower,  however 
low,  in  these  flat  nether  lands,  one  beholds  a 
panorama  of  great  beauty,  of  animation  in  the 
towns,  and  of  repose  in  the  country.  It  would 
be  monotonous  to  praise  a  view  in  every  para- 
graph; yet  all  the  views  deserve  praise,  for 
the  ascent  of  these  towers  never  fails  to  re- 
ward one  with  a  prospect  both  inspiring  and 
restful. 

Alkmaar,  N.  Holland;  Waag  (weigh-house)  ;  35 
bells  weighing  14,300  pounds  by  de  Haze,  1687;  played 
on  Friday  and  Saturday,  12-1,  also  on  October  8th,  the 
anniversary  of  the  lifting  of  the  siege  of  Alkmaar,  which 
was  maintained  by  16,000  Spaniards  under  Alva  in  1573. 
At  each  stroke  of  the  hour,  two  mounted  knights  rush 
out  on  a  small  platform  below  the  tower  clock,  meet, 
pass,  and  disappear  again.  The  first  concert  on  this  caril- 
lon was  heard  by  an  audience  of  many  thousands  on  the 
afternoon  of  August  28,  1688.  Alkmaar  is  the  largest 
cheese  market  in  the  Netherlands.  The  playing  during 
the  trading  Friday  mornings  adds  a  pleasing  touch  to  the 
animated  and  unique  scene  presented  by  the  picturesque 
square,  full  of  piled-up  orange  cheeses  and  crowds  of 
spectators   and   merchants.     The  porters   of   the  cheese- 


182  APPENDICES 

trays,  who  dress  in  white  except  for  the  colored  ribbons 
of  their  straw  hats  (a  different  color  for  each  of  the  five 
porters'  guilds),  seem  to  trot  along  with  their  heavy 
burdens  in  step  with  the  music.  The  tower  may  be 
climbed  (tickets  fl.  0.25,  obtainable  only  at  the  Stadhuis), 
and  from  the  balcony  is  a  fine  view  from  North  Sea  to 
South  Sea  (Zuider  Zee),  while  within  the  tower,  the 
carillonneur  will  play  for  you  your  choice  of  his  reper- 
tory. This  instrument  is  rather  crude,  but  the  bell-mas- 
ter is  very  obliging. 

There  was  formerly  a  carillon  of  32  bells  by  Son- 
neman,  1692,  in  the  tower  of  the  Groote  Kerk. 

Amersfoort,  Utrecht;  Onze  Lieve  Vrouwe  Kerk;  33 
bells  weighing  over  20,000  pounds  by  F.  Hemony,  1658; 
Friday,  10-11,  and  Wednesday  evening,  8-9.  The  tower 
in  which  the  bells  hang  is  called  by  Baedecker  "the  finest 
Gothic  pyramid  in  the  country." 

Amsterdam,  N.  Holland,  has  five  Hemony  carillons. 
That  in  the  Paleis  is  among  the  best.  In  all  five  towers 
the  bells  are  hung  in  circles  and  may  be  seen  from  the 
street. 

The  carillon  in  the  royal  palace  consists  of  37  bells 
by  F.  and  P.  Hemony,  1664,  arranged  in  two  tiers,  the 
upper  consisting  of  the  largest  bell  (of  6,160  pounds) 
encircled  by  the  eight  next  in  size  and  the  lower  consist- 
ing of  the  remainder.  The  keyboard  is  only  about  twelve 
feet  below  the  bells.  This  arrangement  and  the  good  con- 
dition of  the  mechanism  enables  the  carillonneur,  J.  Vin- 
cent, to  produce  effects  almost  as  fine  as  those  of  good 
Belgian  players.     Concerts  are  on  Monday,  12-1,  and  on 


Amersfoort:  The  Tower  of  Our  Lady 

Affectionately  called  "  The  Mother  and  Child"  because 

of  the  small  spire  carried  by  the  tower 

as  if  in  its  arms 


APPENDICES  183 

royal  birthdays,  8-9,  12-1,  and  4-5,  and  on  summer 
evenings,  as  announced  from  time  to  time  in  newspapers. 

The  tower  of  the  Zuider  Kerk  contains  35  bells,  32  by 
F.  and  P.  Hemony  in  1656  and  weighing  19,500  pounds. 
The  three  highest  bells,  founded  by  N.  Noorden  in  1700, 
can  be  played  only  by  clavier.     Concerts  are  occasional. 

In  the  Oude  Kerk  are  37  bells  by  F.  Hemony,  1659. 
Occasional  concerts. 

The  Western  Kerk  contains  a  carillon  by  the  same 
founder  dated  1657-8.  These  bells  replaced  a  set  made 
by  J.  A.  Leeghwater,  the  engineer  who  first  proposed 
draining  the  Haarlemmer  Meer,  which  were  put  in  place 
in  1643. 

The  Munttoren  also  contains  a  carillon. 

Furthermore,  in  the  Ryks  Museum  is  a  small  carillon 
which  comes  from  Arnemuiden,  Zeeland,  where  it  used 
to  hang  in  the  church  tower.  Of  its  bells,  14  are  by  van 
den  Gheyn  (dated  from  1552  to  1583)  and  the  other  10 
have  been  made  by  recasting  old  fragments.  It  plays 
quaint  Dutch  melodies  on  the  whole  and  half  hour. 

Appingedam,  Groningen;  church;  25  light  and  ac- 
curate bells  by  Taylor,  1911;  concerts  by  the  church  or- 
ganist, Jaeger,  only  on  festival  days.  This  carillon  was 
purchased  with  the  unclaimed  deposits  of  the  church  sav- 
ings bank.  The  largest  bell  bears  the  inscription  "Dit 
klokkenspel  is  een  geschenk  van  de  Spaarbank  van  het 
Oud-Diakengezelschap." 

Arnhem,  Gelderland ;  Groote  Kerk ;  35  bells  weighing 
25,143  pounds  by  F.  and  P.  Hemony;  Friday,  10:15- 
10:45;  among  the  best  and  soon  likely  to  be  improved, 


184  APPENDICES 

for  Arnhem  has  recently  consulted  Denyn  with  the  idea 
of  improving  the  keyboard  and  playing  mechanism. 

Bergen=op»Zoom,  N.  Brabant.  Here  was  formerly 
a  carillon  of  19  bells  by  J.  ter  Stege,  but  it  was  destroyed 
in  war. 

Breda,  N.  Brabant;  40  bells  founded  in  1723;  Tues- 
day and  Friday,  10-11. 

Briel,  Z.  Holland;  S.  Catherinaskerk ;  22  bells  by 
F.  and  P.  Hemony,  1661,  and  1  inferior  one  of  1883. 
The  instrument  is  far  from  perfect;  concerts  are  given 
the  first  Monday  of  each  month  by  W.  Borstlap.  The 
bells  are  played  also  on  April  1,  the  anniversary  of  the 
taking  of  the  town  by  the  "Water  Beggars"  in  1572, 
the  first  act  of  the  Dutch  war  for  independence  from 
Spain,  and  on  December  1,  the  anniversary  of  the  de- 
parture of  the  only  other  foreign  master  the  city  ever 
had,  for  Napoleonic  domination  ended  on  December  1, 
1813.  The  carillon  tower  has  long  been  a  watch  tower 
and  is  equipped  with  a  telephone  connecting  it  with  the 
nearby  coast  defenses. 

Culemborg  (Kuilenburg),  Gelderland. 

Delft,  Z.  Holland;  Nieuwe  Kerk,  tower  375  feet 
high,  40  bells  by  F.  Hemony,  1663;  J.  A.  de  Zwaan 
(also  bell-master  at  the  Hague)  ;  Tuesday,  6-7  P.M.  in 
summer,  12-1  in  winter;  Thursday  and  Saturday,  12-1; 
among  the  best.  Pleasant  places  in  which  to  hear  the 
bells  are  the  Nieuwe  Langendyk,  the  garden  of  the  van 
Meerten  house  (now  a  delightful  museum),  and  the  court 
of  the  Prinsenhof,  the  building  in  which  William  the 
Silent   was   murdered.      Ver    Meer's    famous   "View   of 


APPENDICES  185 

Delft"  in  the  Mauritshuis  at  the  Hague  shows  the  bell 
tower  of  the  New  Church  in  bright  sunlight  in  the  mid- 
dle distance. 

Deventer,  Overyssel;  Groote  Kerk;  34  bells,  25  by 
F.  and  P.  Hemony  in  1646,  and  9  of  1694;  F.  Harbrink; 
Tuesday  and  Thursday,  9:30-10:30. 

Doesburg,  Gelderland;  church;  23  (?)  bells,  light 
and  pleasing,  by  F.  and  P.  Hemony. 

Edam,  N.  Holland;  Onze  Lieve  Vrouwe  Kerk.  This 
carillon  by  P.  van  den  Gheyn,  1561,  is  being  renovated. 
It  was  formerly  played  and  probably  will  be,  when  again 
in  use,  on  Saturday  from  11  to  12. 

Eindhoven,  N.  Brabant;  Stadhuis;  25  bells  by  Tay- 
lor, 1914. 

Enkhuizen,  N.  Holland;  Zuidertoren;  light  bells  by 
P.  Hemony,  1677  ( ?)  ;  Wednesday,  11-12,  April  to  Oc- 
tober. 

Also  Drommedaristoren ;  carillon  by  F.  and  P.  He- 
mony, now  under  repair. 

Flushing — see  Vlissingen. 

Goes,  Zeeland;  Groote  Kerk;  40  bells;  H.  Vissers 
plays  on  Tuesday,  12-1.  These  bells  are  attributed  va- 
riously to  A.  J.  van  den  Gheyn,  Jansz,  and  J.  Petit. 

Gorinchem,  Z.  Holland;  Groote  Kerk;  25  bells  by 
de  Haze,  1682;  Monday,  12-1. 

Gouda,  Z.  Holland;  Groote  Kerk  (in  which  is  the 
finest  stained  glass  in  the  country) ;  37  bells,  32  by  P. 
Hemony,  1677;  G.  van  Zuylen;  Thursday  and  Saturday, 
10:15-11;  among  the  best.  Mr.  van  Zuylen  is  most 
courteous  and  is  an  enthusiastic  carillonneur.    On  the  up- 


186  APPENDICES 

rights  near  the  keyboard  are  painted  the  names  and  dates 
of  service  of  preceding  bell-masters.  The  bells  here  are 
arranged  in  the  usual  Dutch  fashion,  in  circles  and  ex- 
posed to  the  weather.  The  lower  tier  consists  of  two 
concentric  rings,  the  18  smallest  bells  surrounded  by  the 
8  largest;  while  above  are  the  other  11,  also  hung  in  a 
circle.  "Wilhelmus  van  Nassauwe"  is  always  the  hour 
tune.  During  May  the  carillonneur  gives  additional  con- 
certs Sunday,  Tuesday,  Thursday,  and  Saturday  from 
6  to  7  in  the  evening. 

's  Gravenhage  (den  Haag),  Z.  Holland;  Groote 
Kerk;  37  bells  by  de  Haze,  1686;  J.  A.  de  Zwaan,  the 
organist  of  the  church  and  a  master  musician;  Monday 
and  Friday,  12-1 ;  among  the  best.  In  this  Great  Church 
in  the  Hague,  Queen  Wilhelmina  was  married  while  the 
carillon  rang  joyfully  above  her.  The  best  view  of  the 
tower  of  this  church  is  from  across  the  Vyver,  which,  says 

E.  V.  Lucas,  "is  a  jewel  set  in  the  midst  (of  the  Hague), 
beautiful  by  day  and  beautiful  by  night,  with  fascinating 
reflections  in  it  at  both  times,  and  a  special  gift  for  the 
transmission  of  (the  sound  of)  bells  in  a  country  where 
bells  are  really  honoured."  There  is  a  detailed  account 
of  this  carillon,  entitled  "Het  Klokkenspel  van  den 
Haagschen  Sint-Jacobstoren,"  by  W.  P.  H.  Jansen. 

Groningen,  Groningen;  Martinikerk;  37  bells,  31  by 

F.  Hemony,  1662;  5  by  P.  Hemony,  1671,  and  1  by  A. 
van  den  Gheyn,  1788;  H.  P.  Steenhuis;  Tuesday,  10:30- 
11  and  Friday,  1-1:30;  among  the  best.  There  are  also 
3  bells  antedating  the  carillon,  but  able  to  be  connected 
with  it;  these  were  cast  by  H.  von  Trier  in  1578.    This 


Enkhuizen:  The  Dromedary  Tower 


APPENDICES  187 

carillon  is  silent  during  Holy  Week.  The  tower  in  which 
it  hangs  is  the  station  of  a  watch-man,  who  every  quarter 
hour  during  the  night  blows  trumpet  notes  to  the  four 
points  of  the  compass  to  indicate  that  he  is  on  duty.  If 
he  descries  a  fire,  he  telephones  the  fire  department. 
C.  P.  L.  Rutgers  has  written  a  pamphlet  about  this 
carillon. 

A  carillon  in  the  Aakerk  was  destroyed  by  lightning 
in  1671. 

Haarlem,  N.  Holland;  Groote  Kerk,  35  bells  weigh- 
ing 19,500  pounds  by  F.  Hemony,  1660-4;  H.  W.  Hof- 
meester;  Monday  and  Friday,  12-12:30;  among  the  best. 
This  church  contains  a  famous  old  organ,  which  is  usu- 
ally played  on  Tuesday  from  1  to  2  and  on  Thursday 
between  2  and  3. 

The  Hague — see  's  Gravenhage. 

Hasselt  (?),  Overyssel;  F.  Hemony,  1662-4  (?). 

Hattem,  Overyssel;  22  bells. 

Helmond,  N.  Brabant;  Stadhuis;  automatic  play  only. 
This  carillon,  hidden  in  1795  to  save  it  from  the  French, 
was  originally  in  Postel  Abbey  in  Limburg,  Belgium. 

's  Hertogenbosch  (Bois-le-Duc),  N.  Brabant;  S. 
Janskerk;  40  bells;  van  Aerschodt,  1874;  Wednesday, 
11-12. 

Also  Stadhuis;  23  bells;  F.  and  P.  Hemony;  Wednes- 
day, 9-10. 

Heusden,  N.  Brabant;  Stadhuis;  small  carillon  played 
Tuesday,  11-12. 

Hoorn,   N.   Holland.     The   Groote   Kerk  once  con- 


188  APPENDICES 

tained  32  bells  by  P.  Hemony,  1670,  which  were  de- 
stroyed by  fire. 

Hulst,  Zeeland.  A  carillon  of  28  bells  by  P.  Hemony, 
1669  (?),  formerly  was  played  Monday  (market  day), 
"Maar,  helas,  in  het  jaar  1876  is  de  toren  en  ook  het 
klokkenspel  vernietigd,"  the  "horlogemaker"  of  the  city 
writes  me. 

Kampen,  Overyssel;  Bovenkerk;  35  bells;  F.  Hemony, 
1662;  H.  J.  Dieter;  Monday,  11-12,  and  Friday,  6-7. 

Leeuwarden,  Friesland;  Stadhuis;  33  bells  by  Fremy, 
1687-9.  The  carillon  hung  in  the  New  Tower  till  1884 
when,  the  tower  becoming  dangerous,  it  was  taken  down. 
It  will  soon  be  put  up  again  in  the  tower  of  the  Town 
Hall. 

Leiden,  Z.  Holland;  Stadhuis;  39  bells,  29  by  P. 
Hemony,  and  10  by  Fremy  in  1680;  R.  H.  T.  van 
Leeuwen;  Wednesday  and  Saturday,  10:15-11,  and  Mon- 
day evening,  8:30-9:30.  Also  on  October  3,  when  the 
inhabitants  eat  a  special  dish  made  of  chopped  carrots 
and  meats  to  celebrate  the  relief  of  Leiden,  besieged  by 
the  Spaniards  for  a  year  ending  October  3,  1574.  After 
mounting  the  fine  perron  of  this  Town  Hall  and  so 
reaching  the  floor  on  which  are  the  rooms  adorned  with 
magnificent  old  tapestries,  it  is  a  short  climb  up  an  elec- 
trically lighted  stairway  to  the  bell-master's  room.  The 
ceiling  of  this  room  is  supported  by  mortised  beams  ra- 
diating from  the  centre  and  decorated  with  white  stars 
on  a  blue  ground.  An  attractive  spot  in  which  to  hear  the 
bells  is  by  the  little  dolphin  fountain  behind  the  Town 
Hall.     Unfortunately  the  playing  of  the  fountain   (Sat- 


APPENDICES  189 

urday,  3-6)  and  the  playing  of  the  carillon  do  not  coincide. 

Lochem,  Gelderland;  Reformed  Church;  29  bells, 
which  are  not  played  by  clockwork,  and  by  clavier  only 
on  great  holidays.  These  bells  were  given  to  the  town  by 
an  individual  (G.  Naeff). 

Maastricht,  Limburg;  Stadhuis,  28  bells  by  F.  and 
P.  Hemony,  1664-8;  J.  Muller;  Saturday,  12-1. 

Also  S.  Servaaskerk;  40  bells  by  van  den  Gheyn,  1767. 

Formerly  there  was  a  carillon  of  40  bells  in  Onze 
Lieve  Vrouwe  Kerk. 

Middelburg,  Zeeland;  "Lange  Jan,"  the  tower  of  the 
Abdy  (Abbey)  ;  43  bells  by  N.  Noorden  and  J.  A.  de 
Grave,  1714-5,  of  which  41  are  used;  J.  Morks;  Thurs- 
day, 12-1,  and  in  May,  Friday,  7-8  A.M.  and  6-7  P.M. 
Among  the  best  and  much  the  busiest  of  carillons.  It 
plays  for  nearly  two  minutes  before  the  hour,  a  minute 
before  the  half,  a  few  measurers  at  the  quarters,  and 
some  notes  every  seven  and  a  half  minutes,  besides  a  warn- 
ing ripple  before  each  quarter  hour.  The  butter  and  egg 
market-place,  crowded  with  peasants  in  costume  at  the 
market  hour  (Thursday  noon),  is  perhaps  the  most  inter- 
esting place  to  hear  the  bells.  They  blend  with  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  marketing  most  agreeably.  In  quiet  places, 
too,  like  the  Abbey  yard  or  the  secluded  garden  of  the 
Grand  Hotel,  Lange  Jan's  bells  are  welcome  compan- 
ions. A  detailed  study  of  this  carillon  is  embodied  in 
F.  A.  Hoeffer's  "De  Klokkenspellen  van  Middelburg." 

Middelstum,  Groningen;  church;  23  bells  by  F.  He- 
mony, 1661-2;  since  1857  played  by  clockwork  and  at 
present  only  by  that  method.     Van  der  Aa,  writing  in 


190  APPENDICES 

1851,  says  the  bells  were  played  Wednesday  between  11 
and  12  and  Sunday  before  service.  This  is  the  only  in- 
stance I  have  found  of  Sunday  play  within  the  Kingdom 
of  the  Netherlands,  while  in  Belgium  it  is  nearly  universal. 

Monnikendam,  N.  Holland;  33  (?)  bells  by  P.  van 
den  Gheyn. 

Nykerk,  Gelderland;  Oude  Kerk;  28  ( ?)  bells  by 
van  den  Gheyn;  Monday,  9-10.  In  this  church  are 
tombs  of  van  Rensselaers  and  van  Curlers,  families  from 
which  came  early  colonists  of  New  York. 

Nymegen  (Nimwegen),  Gelderland;  Groote  Kerk; 
40  bells  by  van  den  Gheyn,  1597;  W.  de  Vries;  Monday 
and  Thursday,  11:30-12;  among  the  best.  From  the 
river,  the  branch  of  the  Rhine  called  the  Waal,  the  caril- 
lon tower  appears  as  the  apex  of  this  city,  built  on  a  hill. 
The  ideal  place  in  which  to  hear  the  bells  is  on  the  river. 

Oudewater,  Utrecht;  Friday,  10-11. 

Purmerend,  N.  Holland.  Formerly  there  was  a  caril- 
lon of  31  ( ?)  bells  by  F.  and  P.  Hemony. 

Rhenen,  Utrecht.  The  very  graceful  tower  of  S. 
Cunera,  in  which  was  the  carillon,  was  struck  by  lightning 
in  September,  1897,  and  completely  destroyed.  The  new 
tower  is  an  exact  copy  of  the  old,  but  contains  no  bells. 

Rotterdam,  Z.  Holland;  Groote  Kerk;  39  bells, 
weighing  35,000  pounds;  F.  Hemony,  1660;  W.  C.  de 
Lange;  Tuesday  and  Saturday,  11-12. 

Also  Beurs  (Exchange);  F.  Hemony,  1660;  played 
only  by  clockwork.  This  set  of  bells  was  made  for  the 
Stadhuis  and  hung  there  till  1829. 

Schiedam,   Z.    Holland;    Oude   Kerk;   41    bells,   of 


APPENDICES  191 

which  28  are  used,  by  A.  J.  van  den  Gheyn,  1786;  H.  J. 
P.  Textor;  Friday,  11-12,  and  occasionally  summer  eve- 
nings, 9-10.  The  3  heaviest  bells,  used  respectively  as 
a  church  bell,  an  hour  bell,  and  a  half-hour  bell  are  not 
connected  with  the  keyboard,  nor  are  the  10  lightest  bells 
because  of  their  unsatisfactory  timbre.  There  are  four 
weights  here  to  be  wound  up  daily :  one  for  the  hour  bell  ; 
one  for  the  half-hour  bell,  which — as  everywhere  in  the 
Netherlands — is  higher  in  tone  than  the  hour  bell  and 
strikes  the  hour  next  to  come  (instead  of  a  single  stroke)  ; 
a  third  for  the  cylinder  which  plays  the  bells  each  quar- 
ter hour;  and  the  last  for  the  clock  itself.  The  cylinder 
has  112  rows  of  holes  in  which  pins  may  be  inserted.  Of 
these,  72  "measures"  play  before  the  hour,  32  before  the 
half-hour,  and  4  at  each  of  the  intervening  quarters. 
The  bell-master  is  an  interesting  man  and  interested  in 
his  carillon,  for  both  his  father  and  his  father's  father 
were  city  carillonneurs  of  Schiedam.  These  three  Tex- 
tors  have  held  the  position  successively  since  1791  and 
the  present  one  takes  proud  care  of  his  laboratory.  The 
stairway  up  the  tower,  a  short  climb,  is  spick  with  white- 
washed walls  and  supplied  with  a  taut  rope  hand-grip, 
while  the  tower  room  is  a  model  of  Dutch  order  and 
lustrous  cleanness.  The  cylinder,  and  indeed  all  the  ma- 
chinery, is  polished  like  the  engines  of  an  ocean  liner  and 
the  cylinder  pins,  accurately  sorted,  glisten  in  their  allot- 
ted compartments,  while  Heer  Textor  himself  is  a  very 
hearty  and  obliging  host.  Altogether  this  is  one  of  the 
most  satisfactory  towers  to  climb,  though  the  bells  cannot 
be  given  as  high  a  rank  as  those  in  many  other  places. 


192  APPENDICES 

Schoonhoven,  Z.  Holland;  a  small  carillon,  very 
pretty  and  light,  made  from  cannon  by  O.  van  Noort; 
van  Rossum,  carillonneur. 

Sittard,  Limburg.  F.  A.  Hoeffer  has  written  a 
pamphlet  on  these  bells. 

Sneek,  Friesland;  S.  Maartenstoren ;  26  bells  by 
Borchard  and  Eckhof,  1771;  J.  Lindema;  Tuesday  and 
Friday,  12-12:30. 

Tholen,  Zeeland;  Stadhuis;  automatic  play  only. 

Tilburg  (?),  N.  Brabant. 

Utrecht,  Utrecht;  Dom;  42  bells  weighing  32,000 
pounds,  chiefly  by  F.  and  P.  Hemony,  1663;  J.  A.  H. 
Wagenaar;  Saturday,  11-12,  and  in  May,  Monday,  Tues- 
day, Thursday,  and  Friday,  7-7 :30  A.M. ;  among  the  best. 
The  clavier  of  this  instrument  is  connected  with  more 
bells  than  any  other  in  the  country  and  the  carillonneur 
is  very  skilful  in  using  them.  The  tower,  338  feet  high, 
stands  apart  from  the  Cathedral,  since  the  collapse  of 
the  nave  in  1674.  Stairs  of  458  steps  lead  to  the  bell- 
master's  cabin  and  from  this  height  a  splendid  view 
of  the  surrounding  country  is  obtained.  The  best  place 
in  which  to  listen  to  the  bells  is  the  garden  behind  the 
Stadhuis. 

There  is  a  carillon  of  23  bells  by  F.  and  P.  Hemony 
in  the  Claaskerk  (Church  of  S.  Nicholas  or  Santa  Claus). 
This  plays  only  by  machinery,  but  has  excellent  bells. 

There  once  was  and  still  may  be  another  carillon  by  the 
brothers  Hemony  in  the  Jacobskerk. 

Veere,  Zeeland;  Stadhuis;  36  bells  chiefly  by  P.  and 
A.  van  den  Gheyn,  1736. 


Veere:  The  Town  Hall 


APPENDICES  193 

In  the  Groote  Kerk  was  once  another  carillon  which 
belonged  to  the  church. 

Vlissingen,  Zeeland;  Groote  Kerk;  33  bells  by  Tay- 
lor, 1914;  among  the  best;  one  of  the  three  new  carillons 
of  the  same  English  make,  the  others  being  at  Appinge- 
dam  and  Eindhoven.  This  carillon  was  played  for  the  first 
time  on  April  30,  1914,  Princess  Juliana's  fifth  birthday, 
as  a  surprise  to  the  people  of  Flushing.  The  mechanism 
is  wound  by  electricity  and  the  face  of  the  clock  is  thus 
lighted  at  night.  The  old  tower  of  the  Great  Church, 
burned  September  5,  1911,  contained  35  bells  by  P.  van 
den  Gheyn,  1770. 

Weesp,  N.  Holland;  29  bells  by  P.  Hemony,  1676; 
J.  W.  Bovenkerk  plays  on  royal  birthdays,  8-9  A.M. 

Ysselmonde,  Z.  Holland ;  R.  G.  Crevecceur,  carillon- 
neur;  Wednesday,  11-12. 

Zalt  Bommel,  Gelderland;  S.  Maartenskerk;  33(?) 
bells  by  F.  Hemony,  1663  ( ?) ;  Tuesday,  11-12. 

Zierikzee,  Zeeland;  Stadhuis;  14  bells  by  P.  van  den 
Gheyn,  1550-5;  S.  Klimmerboorn ;  Thursday,  12-1.  This 
is  the  oldest  and  smallest  carillon  still  played  by  a  caril- 
lonneur. 

Zutf en,  Gelderland ;  Wynhuis ;  32  bells,  26  by  F.  and 
P.  Hemony,  1645;  Thursday,  10:15-10:45.  Zutfen,  like 
its  neighbours,  Arnheim  and  Nimeguen,  has  recently  con- 
sulted Mr.  Denyn  about  improving  the  mechanism  of  its 
carillon.     These  are  the  earliest  bells  of  the  Hemonys. 

Zwolle,  Overyssel.  F.  A.  Hoefer  has  written  a 
pamphlet  on  the  bells  of  Zwolle. 


APPENDIX   B 

LIST  OF  CARILLONS   IN   BELGIUM 

MOST  of  the  remarks  at  the  head  of 
the  preceding  list  apply  quite  as 
much  to  the  following.  Out  of  re- 
gard to  the  fact  that  carillons  are  a  Nether- 
landish institution,  an  expression  of  art  pecul- 
iar to  the  Low  Country  branch  of  the  Teutonic 
race,  I  have  arranged  these  Belgian  towns 
alphabetically  according  to  their  names  in  the 
Flemish  rather  than  the  French  language. 
Since  the  latter,  however,  is  frequently  more 
familiar  to  the  foreigner,  and  is  the  official 
language  of  Belgium,  and  in  some  form  the 
popular  language  of  nearly  half  the  people, 
the  French  name  also  is  given  whenever  it  is 
different.  These  two  names  in  each  case  seem 
a  sufficient  identification  without  any  mention 
of  the  province.  Otherwise  the  arrangement 
of  information  is  the  same  as  in  the  preced- 
ing list. 

194 


APPENDICES  195 

As  has  been  often  pointed  out  in  the  body 
of  this  book,  the  best  carillons  of  Belgium  are 
generally  superior,  not  in  the  bells  but  in  the 
machinery  for  playing  them,  to  the  best  ones 
of  her  northern  neighbour.  The  superiority, 
therefore,  is  likely  to  be  temporary;  but  for 
the  present,  Belgium  has  a  very  considerable 
advantage.  Owing  to  this  greater  perfection 
of  the  carillon  as  an  instrument,  concerts  in 
the  quiet  of  evening  take  a  more  prominent 
place  in  Flanders  than  in  Holland  and  are 
constantly  becoming  more  popular. 

Unfortunately  my  information  about  Bel- 
gium is  so  far  from  complete,  that  I  have  been 
able  in  many  cases  to  note  merely  the  name  of 
the  town  where  there  is  a  carillon.  I  en- 
deavour, however,  to  make  at  least  this  much 
mention  of  every  carillon  in  the  country.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  the  great  majority  are  in 
the  northern  half  of  Belgium,  that  being  the 
portion  where  the  people  are  Netherlandish 
in  race  and  language.  The  whole  country, 
however,  has  the  bond  of  a  common  church, 


196  APPENDICES 

which  strikingly  differentiates  the  Kingdom 
of  Belgium  from  the  Kingdom  of  the  Nether- 
lands. But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
carillons,  whether  in  Protestant  or  Roman 
Catholic  churches,  are  always  municipal,  not 
ecclesiastic,  property. 

Aalst,  Alost;  belfry;  38  bells,  some  by  Joris  Dumery 
and  some  by  F.  van  Aerschod t ;  K.  de  Mette,  carillonneur. 

Antoing,  small  carillon;  automatic  play  only. 

Antwerpen,  Anvers;  cathedral,  47  bells,  36  by  F. 
and  P.  Hemony,  1655-8,  3  by  Joris  Dumery,  1767,  the 
7  smallest  by  F.  van  Aerschodt,  1904,  and  one,  the  "bour- 
don," or  heaviest  bell,  bearing  a  rhymed  inscription  show- 
ing it  was  founded  by  Jan  and  Willem  Hoerken  in  1459; 
Gustaaf  Brees;  Friday,  11:30-12:30,  and  during  the 
summer,  Monday  and  Thursday  evenings,  9-10;  among 
the  best,  ranking  almost  as  high  as  Bruges  and  Mechlin. 
Of  these  evening  concerts  about  half  are  given  by  Mr. 
Brees  and  the  remainder  by  bell-masters  of  other  Bel- 
gian towns.  An  attractive  illustrated  booklet,  giving  the 
programmes  for  the  whole  series,  is  published  each  spring 
by  the  City  Information  Bureau,  Meir  60. 

The  cathedral  tower,  which  Napoleon  likened  to  Mech- 
lin lace,  contains  also  26  bells  ordered  by  ecclesiastical 
authorities  from  the  Hemonys  in  1654.  These  bells, 
however,  are  not  now  used.  Another  carillon  was  de- 
stroyed when  the  tower  of  the  S.  Andrieskerk  fell  in 


Antwerp:  The  Cathedral  Spire 

View  at  Sunrise,  looking  over  the  Place  Verte 

Photograph  by  H.  L.  P.  Rice 


APPENDICES  197 

1755,  and  two  others,  in  the  S.  Michaelsabdy  and  the  S. 
Jacobskerk,  were  destroyed  during  the  French  dominion. 

Antwerpen»Kiel;  28  bells;  new. 

Audenarde — see  Oudenaarde. 

Bergen,  Mons;  belfry;  44  bells,  21  by  de  la  Paix, 
1673 — he  made  35  but  14  have  been  refounded — 10  by 
Chevresson,  Simon,  and  Duforest,  1761,  6  by  Drouot, 
Hubert,  and  Bastien,  1821,  and  the  7  smallest  by  van 
Aerschodt,  1894;  Fernand  Redoute;  Sunday  12-12:30, 
and  in  July,  August,  and  September,  Monday  evening, 
8-9;  among  the  best.  Details  of  this  carillon  and  descrip- 
tions of  all  the  bells,  past  and  present,  of  this  town  are 
contained  in  "Notice  Historique  sur  les  cloches  at  les 
carillons  de  Mons,"  by  A.  de  Behault  de  Dornon. 

Binche;  small  carillon;  automatic  play  only. 

Borgerhout;  Stadhuis;  35  bells  by  Beullens,  now  be- 
ing repaired ;  E.  Steenockers. 

Brugge,  Bruges;  Halletoren  or  belfry;  47  bells  by 
Joris  Dumery,  1743,  which  replaced  38  bells  by  F.  He- 
mony,  1662,  destroyed  in  1741;  Antony  Nauwelaerts; 
from  September  15  to  June  15,  Sunday,  Wednesday,  and 
Saturday,  11:15-12,  and  from  June  15  to  September  15, 
Saturday,  11:15-12,  and  Monday  and  Wednesday  eve- 
nings, 9-10;  among  the  best,  ranking  second  only  to 
Mechlin.  Mr.  Nauwelaerts  comes  from  a  family  which 
has  supplied  the  carillonneurs  of  Lier  for  about  a  cen- 
tury. Besides  the  regular  concerts  just  mentioned,  he 
gives,  at  the  request  of  "Die  Roya,"  a  society  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  coming  of  travellers,  several  special  con- 
certs, usually  Thursday  evening  from  9-10.     The  pro- 


198  APPENDICES 

grammes  of  these  are  published  in  a  pamphlet,  "Indicateur 
— Bruges,"  while  those  of  the  regular  concerts  appear  in 
local  newspapers.  During  the  evening  concerts  the  cir- 
culation of  vehicles  in  the  Groote  Markt  and  in  neigh- 
bouring streets  is  forbidden.  The  mechanism  has  just 
been  put  in  perfect  order  and  the  bells  are  very  fine. 
Further  details  are  given  in  Chapter  IV  of  this  book  and 
in  Gaillard,  "Le  carillon  de  Bruges." 

Brussel,  Bruxelles.  In  1541  there  were  9  carillons, 
but  none  of  these  has  survived  to  the  present,  and  Brus- 
sels now  has  no  carillon. 

Chi  may;  small  carillon;  automatic  play  only. 

Courtrai — see  Kortryk. 

Dendermonde,  Termonde;  Stadhuis;  40  bells  by  A. 
van  den  Gheyn  and  others;  E.  Loret;  Sunday  9-9:30, 
Monday,   11:30-12.     [Reported  destroyed,  1914.] 

Diest;  S.  Sulpiciuskerk ;  37  bells,  chiefly  by  P.  Hemony, 
1671;  F.  de  Roy;  Wednesday,  11-12. 

Diksmuide  or  Dixmude;  S.  Niklaaskerk;  32  bells  in 
poor  condition;  E.  Vermeersch;  Sunday  and  Monday, 
11:30-12. 

Dinant;  small  carillon;  automatic  play  only. 

Doornyk,  Tournai;  belfry;  42  bells  by  Waghevens 
and  others;  Roger;  played  only  "par  ordre  de  l'hotel  de 
ville";  among  the  best. 

Also  S.  Brice;  27  bells;  never  played.  There  were  at 
one  time  11  carillons  in  this  town.  See  Desmonts'  "Les 
cloches  de  Tournai." 

Edingen  or  Einghen,  Enghien;  31  bells  by  J.  van  den 
Gheyn  and  G.  Dumery;  automatic  play  only. 


APPENDICES  199 

Gent,  Gand;  Belfort  or  belfry;  52  bells,  38  by  P. 
Hemony,  most  of  the  rest  recent — 9  by  O.  Michaux — 
and  the  6  or  7  highest  quite  useless — details  in  Appen- 
dix D;  Gustaaf  Brees  of  Antwerp;  Friday,  12-1,  and 
Sunday,  6:30-7:30;  also  from  June  to  September  in- 
clusive, Saturday  evening,  8-9;  among  the  best.  The 
mechanism  has  been  recently  restored  by  Desire  Somers 
of  Mechlin,  and  the  carillon  is  now  in  excellent  repair. 
A  booklet  containing  programmes  of  the  evening  concerts 
is  usually  published.  Further  information  about  Ghent 
appears  in  Chapter  III  of  this  book. 

There  is  another  extant  carillon  of  27  bells  by  P. 
Hemony,  1664  (?),  in  the  tower  of  the  University  Li- 
brary  (formerly  Baudeloo  Abbey). 

Hal,  Halle;  Notre  Dame;  28  bells  in  disrepair. 

Harlebeke;  old  tower  of  S.  Salvatorkerk ;  32  bells 
now  being  put  in  order. 

Hasselt;  S.  Quintynkerk;  42  bells  by  A.  Bernard  and 
van  den  Gheyn;  A.  Hamoir;  Tuesday  and  Friday,  11- 
11:30. 

Herenthals;  Stadhuis;  35  bells  by  A.  L.  J.  van  Aer- 
schodt. 

Hoei,  Huy;  Notre  Dame;  38  bells  by  A.  van  den 
Gheyn  and  others;  keyboard  play  only  (and  rarely). 

Also  Hotel  de  ville;  38  bells  by  A.  van  den  Gheyn; 
automatic  play  only. 

Iseghem;  St.  Hilon;  34  bells  by  van  den  Gheyn,  van 
Aerschodt,  and  others. 

Kortryk,  Courtrai;  S.  Maartenskerk ;  47  bells  by  S. 
van   Aerschodt;  A.   Vermeulen;    Sunday   and    Monday, 


200  APPENDICES 

11:30-12:30,  and  Monday  evening  if  fair;  among  the 
best. 

Leau — see  Zout-Leeuw. 

Leuven,  Louvain;  S.  Geertruikerk ;  46  bells,  38  by 
A.  van  den  Gheyn  and  8  by  van  Aerschodt;  J.  van  de 
Plas;  played  only  on  holidays;  among  the  best,  being 
remarkable  for  justness  of  tone  and  accord. 

Also  S.  Pieterskerk;  40  bells  by  J.  A.  de  Grave  and 
N.  Noorden;  van  de  Plas,  senior;  Sunday,  12-12:30. 
among  the  best.  These  bells  hung  until  1810  in  the 
nearby  Park  Abbey,  which  was  suppressed  during  the 
French  Revolution,  but  has  since  (1836)  been  revived. 

Besides  its  bells,  this  town  has  the  distinction  of  being 
a  place  where  carillons  are  founded;  the  van  Aerschodt 
foundry,  where  bells  for  many  Belgian  and  some  foreign 
towns  have  been  cast,  and  the  foundry  of  Omer  Michaux 
are  both  here. 

[These  carillons  were  destroyed  by  the  Germans  on 
August  26,  1914.] 

Liege — see  Luik. 

Lier,  Lierre;  S.  Gommaruskerk ;  40  bells,  36  by  A. 
Julien,  1725  ( ?),  and  4  by  A.  van  den  Gheyn,  1755  (  ?). 

Luik,  Liege;  cathedral;  40  bells. 

Also  Palais  des  Princes  Eveques;  about  to  be  refitted. 

Mechelen,  Malines;  S.  Romboutstoren  (cathedral); 
45  bells  weighing  36  tons — details  in  Appendix  D;  Josef 
Denyn;  Saturday,  11-11:30,  Sunday,  11-12,  and  Monday, 
11:30-12,  except  in  June,  August,  and  September.  In 
these  three  months,  the  Monday  concerts  are  from  8  to  9 
in  the  evening  and  during  them  all  traffic  is  stopped  in 


APPENDICES  201 

the  Groote  Markt.  A  pamphlet  is  published  every  year 
giving  programmes  of  all  these  concerts.  In  July  Mechlin 
has  the  kermis  and  there  is  so  much  noise  in  the  evening 
that  Mr.  Denyn  would  then  throw  "margaritas  ante  por- 
cos"  if  he  played,  as  a  friend  expressed  it.  This  carillon 
is  not  merely  among  the  best,  but  is  the  best.  Details 
may  be  found  in  Chapters  IX  and  X  and  in  "Les  caril- 
lons et  les  carillonneurs  a  Malines"  by  G.  van  Doorslaer. 
[Badly  damaged  by  German  shells,  September,   1914.] 

Mespelaere  (near  Dendermonde)  ;  church;  20  bells 
by  S.  van  Aerschodt ;  automatic  play  only. 

Namen,  Namur ;  cathedral ;  47  bells  by  van  Aerschodt  ; 
automatic  play  only. 

Nieuwpoort,  Nieuport;  church;  40  bells;  L.  de 
Schieter;  Tuesday  and  Friday,  11:30-12,  and  Sunday, 
1 :30-2 ;  in  bad  condition. 

Oostende,  Ostende;  40  bells  by  Witlockx  and  Cau- 
sard. 

Oudenaarde,  Audenarde;  S.  Walburgskerk ;  37  bells 
by  A.  van  den  Gheyn,  1758;  A.  Schynkel;  Sunday  and 
Tuesday,  11:30-12. 

Peruwelz;  Bon  Secour;  light  carillon;  A.  Oyen. 

Roeselare,  Roulers;  S.  Michielskerk ;  36  bells  by  S. 
van  Aerschodt. 

Sint  Niklaas,  Saint  Nicolas;  Stadhuis;  35  bells  by 
F.  van  Aerschodt;  A.  Rolliers,  bell-master. 

Sint  Truiden,  Saint  Trond;  Stadhuis;  35  bells  by 
Legros  and  A.  van  den  Gheyn. 

Sotteghem;  church;  29  bells  by  Dumery  and  S.  van 
Aerschodt. 


202  APPENDICES 

Steenockerzeel;  church;  41  bells  by  J.  Tordeur  and 
A.  var.  den  Gheyn;  not  in  use. 

Termonde — see  Dendermonde. 

Thielt;  Stadhuis;  Jacob  Dumery;  J.  de  Lodder;  Sun- 
day and  Thursday,  11 :30-12;  recently  refitted  by  Denyn. 

Thienen,  Tirlemont;  S.  Germain;  35  bells  by  N.  Wit- 
lockx,  1723;  recently  restored. 

Thorhout,  Thourout;  church;  J.  Dumery;  Sunday 
and  Wednesday,  11:30-12:30;  keyboard  play  only. 

Tirlemont — see  Thienen. 

Tongeren,  Tongres ;  Onze  Lieve  Vrouwe  Kerk ;  being 
restored. 

Tournai — see  Doornyk. 

Turnhout;  S.  Pieterskerk;  35  bells  by  A.  van  den 
Gheyn;  E.  C.  Verrees;  Sunday  and  Saturday,  11:30-12. 

Verviers;  Notre  Dame  aux  Recollets;  30  bells  by  F. 
van  Aerschodt. 

Wyngene  (near  Thielt) ;  33  bells  by  S.  van  Aer- 
schodt. 

Yperen  or  leperen,  Ypres;  Halletoren  or  belfry; 
44  (?)  bells  by  F.  van  Aerschodt,  founded  under  the 
supervision  of  Denyn;  Noel  Igodt;  Sunday,  11-11 :30,  and 
Saturday,  11:30-12,  and  occasional  evening  concerts; 
among  the  best.  The  bells  in  the  lantern  that  are  seen 
from  the  street  are  of  an  old  set  no  longer  used. 

Zout  Leeuw,  Leau;  S.  Leonardskerk ;  30  bells,  some 
by  S.  van  Aerschodt. 

Many  Belgian  carillons,  including  all  those 
belonging  to  abbeys,  were  melted  into  cannon 


APPENDICES  203 

during  the  French  Revolutionary  period.  Fol- 
lowing is  a  partial  list  of  those  that  disap- 
peared then  and  at  other  times: 

Afflighem  (abbey),  Antwerpen  (S.  Michael,  S.  Jacob, 
S.  Andries),  Ath  (S.  Juliaan),  Aulne  (abbey),  Aver- 
bode  (abbey),  Bergen  (Val  des  £coliers,  St.  Germain, 
Ste.  Elisabeth,  St.  Nicolas  en  Havre),  Brugge  (semi- 
nary), Brussel  (S.  Niklaas,  Broodhuis,  St.  Jaques  sur 
Caudenberg),  Cambron  (abbey),  Doornyk  (cathedral, 
Atheneum,  St.  Jacques,  St.  Jean  Baptiste,  Ste.  Marie 
Madeleine,  Ste.  Marguerite,  St.  Martin,  St.  Nicaise 
St.  Piat,  St.  Quentin  (seminary),  Eename  (abbey), 
Geeraardsbergen  (or  Grammont),  Gent  (S.  Baaf,  S. 
Jacob,  S.  Michael,  Carthusian  convent),  Grimberghe 
(abbey),  Kortryk  (S.  Maarten),  Lier,  Luik,  Mechelen 
(Onze  Lieve  Vrouwekerk),  Meenen  (or  Menin),  Na- 
men  (Porte  Horegoule,  St.  Jacques,  belfry),  Ninove 
(abbey),  Nyvel  (or  Nivelles),  Oostende,  Oudenburg, 
Poperinghe,  Postel  (abbey),  Veurne  (or  Furnes),  Watou, 
Zinik  (or  Soignies). 


APPENDIX   C 

LIST  OF  CARILLONS  IN  OTHER  COUNTRIES 

THE  reader,  being  well  aware  that 
carillons  are  peculiar  to  the  Low 
Countries,  must  now  be  introduced 
to  those  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  There 
are  about  40  in  France,  20  in  Germany,  and 
20  in  other  countries.  Yet  these  figures  only 
confirm  the  assertion  that  carillons  are  Neth- 
erlandish. In  France,  most  of  them  are  in  the 
departments  of  Nord  and  Pas  de  Calais,  next 
to  Flemish  Belgium  and  sometimes  called  "la 
Flandre  frangaise,"  for  in  this  district  the 
population  is  Netherlandish  in  race  and  even 
in  language.  In  Germany,  too,  many  of  the 
carillons  are  near  the  Dutch  and  Belgian 
border  and  are  due  to  Netherlandish  influ- 
ence. And  in  more  distant  parts  of  the  world, 
we  can  frequently  detect  it. 

The  Spanish  carillons  came  from  the  Span- 

204 


APPENDICES  205 

ish  Netherlands;  the  Austrian  ones  probably 
from  Belgium  while  under  Austrian  domin- 
ion. Those  in  Sweden  are  in  towns  with 
Dutch  settlers,  while  that  at  Riga  is  perhaps 
traceable  to  the  sojourn  of  Peter  the  Great  in 
Holland. 

Unfortunately  the  information  in  the  fol- 
lowing list  is  almost  entirely  at  second  hand, 
while  that  in  both  the  foregoing  was  obtained 
chiefly  by  conversation  and  correspondence 
with  bell-masters  and  bell-lovers  in  the  Low 
Countries.  But  here,  as  in  both  the  preced- 
ing lists,  I  have  striven  for  accuracy  rather 
than  for  fulness  of  information. 

AUSTRIA=HUNGARY 

Graz,  Austria.    Salzburg,  Austria. 

DENMARK 

Kjobenhavn  (Copenhagen)  ;  Fredericksborg  (royal 
castle)  ;  28  bells  by  S.  van  Aerschodt.  Also  Radhus 
(town  hall)  ;  new. 

FRANCE 

(Flemish  name,  when  native,  follows  French.     Depart- 
ment is  in  parentheses.) 


206  APPENDICES 

Annoeullin  (Nord).  Armentieres,  Armentiers 
(Nord).  Arras,  Atrecht  (Pas  de  Calais).  Ascq 
(Nord).  Avesnes  (Nord).  Bailleul  (Nord),  31 
bells.  Bergues,  Sint-Winoks-Bergen  (Nord).  Bou- 
chain  (Nord);  36  bells.  Bourbourg  (Nord);  37 
bells.  Buglose  (Landes).  Calais,  Kales  (Pas  de 
Calais).  Cambrai,  Kameryk  (Nord).  Cassel  (Nord). 
Le  Cateau  (Nord).  Chalons=sur=Marne  (Marne). 
Douai  (Nord);  belfry;  39  bells.  Dunkerque,  Duin- 
kerken  (Nord)  ;  belfry;  38  bells  by  van  den  Gheyn. 
Esquelbecq,  Ekelsbeke  (Nord).  Estaires  (Nord). 
Falaise  (Calvados).  Gondecourt  (Nord).  Hesdin 
(Pas  de  Calais)  ;  M.  Waghevens.  Lille,  Ryssel  (Nord)  ; 
S.  £tienne;  19  bells,  1565.  Merville,  Merghem  (Nord). 
Paris  (Seine)  ;  S.  Germain  l'Auxerrois.  Perpignan 
(Pyrenees  orientales).  Roubaix,  Roodebeke  or  Robaais 
(Nord).  Saint  Amand  (Nord);  38  bells.  Saint 
Omer,  Sint  Omaars  (Pas  de  Calais).  Saint  Quentin 
(Aisne).    Seclin  (Nord).    Valenciennes  ( ?)  (Nord). 

GERMANY 

Aachen,  Rheinland,  Preussen;  Minister.  Bremen, 
Bremen.  Berlin,  Brandenburg,  Preussen;  Parochial- 
kirche;  37  bells.  Danzig,  Westpreussen,  Preussen; 
Rathaus.  A  carillon  of  37  bells  by  J.  N.  Derk  of  Hoorn, 
Holland,  1738,  which  hung  in  the  Katharinenkirche  was 
destroyed  by  fire  in  1911.  Darmstadt,  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt; Schlosz;  37(?)  bells  by  P.  Hemony,  1671. 
Diiren,  Rheinland,  Preussen;  Annakirche.  Freiburg, 
Baden;  Rathaus.     Genshagen,  Brandenburg,   Preussen, 


APPENDICES  207 

J.  A.  de  Grave,  1717.  Hamburg,  Hamburg;  Nfkolai- 
kirche.  Also  Petrikirche.  One  of  these  consists  of  32 
bells  by  van  Aerschodt,  while  the  other  is  by  F.  Hemony, 
1662-4.  Koln,  Rheinland,  Preussen;  Rathaus;  38  (?) 
bells,  recently  installed.  The  carillonneur,  Schafer,  plays 
daily,  12-12:30.  Lubeck,  Lubeck.  Mainz,  Hesse- 
Darmstadt;  small;  F.  Hemony,  1662  (?).  Malmedy, 
Rheinland,  Preussen;  35  bells  by  J.  Legros,  1786.  This 
carillon  (in  a  Walloon  district  only  a  few  miles  from  the 
Belgian  border)  was  restored  in  1914  by  Denyn. 
Miinchen,  Oberbayern,  Bayern;  Rathaus;  modern  and 
poor ;  automatic  play  daily  at  11;  no  keyboard.  Pots- 
dam, Brandenburg,  Preussen;  Garnisonskirche. 

GREAT  BRITAIN 

Aberdeen,  Aberdeenshire,  Scotland;  S.  Nicholas; 
36  (  ?)  bells  by  van  Aerschodt,  1890.  The  heaviest  weighs 
6,578  pounds. 

Boston,  Lincolnshire,  England.  The  36  bells  of  this 
carillon  were  sold  in  order  to  increase  the  ring. 

Bournville,  Worcestershire,  England;  22  bells;  re- 
cently erected  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  W.  W. 
Starmer.  Bournville  is  the  model  village  founded  by 
George  Cadbury,  just  outside  of  Birmingham. 

Cattistock,  Dorsetshire,  England;  S.  Peter  and  S. 
Paul;  35  bells  by  van  Aerschodt,  1882-99.  The  heaviest 
weighs  4,400  pounds.  Mr.  Denyn  plays  this  carillon  the 
last  Thursday  of  each  July.  Automatic  play  is  every  hour 
from  8  A.M.  to  9  P.M. 

Eaton    Hall,    Cheshire,    England;   28    bells   by   van 


208  APPENDICES 

Aerschodt.    The  heaviest  weighs  4,719  pounds.     This  is 
the  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Westminster. 

Loughborough,  Leicestershire,  England;  tower  of 
John  Taylor  and  Company's  bell-foundry;  40  bells  by 
Taylor.  These  are  rather  small  bells  of  very  perfect 
pitch.  "It  is  the  only  carillon  in  the  world  tuned  to 
equal  temperament  and  the  very  accurate  tuning  of  the 
small  bells  is  a  veritable  triumph,"  says  the  Musical 
Times. 

ITALY 

Roma;  S.  Paul's  (American  Episcopal  Church)  ;  23 
bells  by  van  Aerschodt;  pitch  of  bells  poor  and  mechan- 
ism in  disrepair;  no  clockwork. 

LUXEMBURG 
Luxemburg;  Liebfrauenkirche. 

PORTUGAL 

Mafra;  convent,  formerly  palace  chapel;  two  carillons 
of  48  bells  each  by  N.  La  Vache  of  Antwerp,  1730. 

RUSSIA 

Riga;  28  bells  by  C.  Fremy,  1694.    St.  Petersburg; 

38  bells  by  J.  N.  Derk,  1757. 

SPAIN 

Aranjuez.  EI  Escorial;  31  bells  by  M.  de  Haze, 
1676.  Also  59  bells,  "of  which  32  formed  a  harmony 
like  that  of  an  organ  and  could  be  played  by  means  of 
a  clavier,"  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1821.    About  1692 


APPENDICES  209 

Charles  Poignard,  a  priest  of  Namur,  went  to  Spain  and 
repaired  and  improved  this  carillon  to  the  entire  satisfac- 
tion of  the  king.  According  to  another  story,  he  estab- 
lished this  and  several  other  carillons  at  Spain,  among 
them  that  at  Aranjuez. 

SWEDEN 

Goteborg  (Gothenburg).  Stockholm;  Dutch 
church;  39  bells  by  Petit  and  Fritsen,  1887.  This  re- 
placed a  better  carillon  of  28  bells  by  F.  Hemony,  1663, 
destroyed  by  fire  in  1878. 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

Buffalo,  New  York;  S.  Joseph's  Cathedral;  43  bells, 
of  which  20  are  in  use,  by  Bolee  et  Fils,  Le  Mans, 
France,  1866.  This  carillon  was  exhibited  by  the  found- 
ers at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1867  and  was  not  hung  in 
Buffalo  till  1870.  One  of  the  bells,  however,  is  in- 
scribed, "Ernest  Bollee  Ad  Buffalo  Me  Misit."  The 
20  bells  connected  with  the  clavier  make  the  scale  of  C 
from  lower  C  to  A  of  the  first  line  above  the  treble  clef, 
both  inclusive;  so  tunes  may  be  played  only  in  the  key 
of  C.  The  bells  are  played  before  late  mass,  which  is  at 
9:30  on  Feastdays  and  10:30  on  Sundays.  There  is  no 
clockwork. 

Notre  Dame,  Indiana;  University  chapel;  32  bells, 
of  which  23  are  connected  with  the  automatic  barrel,  by 
Bollee  et  Fils;  automatic  play  only;  temporarily  not 
working,  but  soon  to  be  improved  in  mechanism  and 
used  again. 


APPENDIX    D 


THE  45  BELLS  OF  THE  MECHLIN  CARILLON 
(As  given  by  Dr.  G.  van  Doorslaer,  1896) 


First  Octave 

'ITCH 

NAME            WT.  IN  KG. 

FOUNDER 

DATE 

Bt2 

Salvator 

8884 

L.  and  S.  van  Aerschodt 

1844 

C 

Charles 

6000 

M.  de  Haze 

1696 

D 

Rombaut 

4235 

S.  van  Aerschodt 

1861 

E 

Maria 

3000 

S.  Waghevens 

1498 

F 

Madeleine 

2000 

M.  de  Haze 

1696 

F# 

Libert 

1749 

A.  van  den  Gheyn 

1766 

G 

1555 

A.  van  den  Gheyn 

1777 

G# 

(out  of  tune) 

1201 
Second 

A.  L.  J.  van  Aerschodt 
Octave 

1873 

A 

J.  Dumery 

1735 

Bfe 

Gielis 

A.  Steylaert 

1564 

B 

Michael 

655 

J.  Waghevens 

1515 

C 

P.  Hemony 

1674 

c# 

Jhesus 

400 

H.  Waghevens 

1480 

D 

P.  Hemony 

1674 

Efe 

A.  van  den  Gheyn 

1784 

E 

P.  Hemony 

1674 

F 

P.  Hemony 

1674 

Fft 

P.  Hemony 

1674 

G 

A.  van  den  Gheyn 

1784 

G# 

P.  Hemony 

1674 

Third  Octave 
A  to  G  complete  12  bells  P.  Hemony  1674 

Fourth  Octave 

A  to  A  complete  13  bells  P.  Hemony  1674 

Total  estimated  weight  (45  bells)  34,098  kilograms. 

210 


APPENDICES 


211 


The  above  list  does  not  exactly  agree  with 
the  last  two  sentences  of  this  description  in 
the  Mechlin  Concert  Pamphlet  for  1914: 

"The  biggest  bell,  'Salvator,'  weighing  nearly  9  tons, 
is  the  largest  bass  bell  in  any  carillon.  The  bells  cast 
by  Simon,  Joris,  and  Hendrik  Waghevens  are  our  most 
ancient  ones.  There  are  besides,  28  bells  cast  by  the  great 
bell-founders  F.  and  P.  Hemony.  The  others  were  cast 
by  M.  de  Haze,  A.  van  den  Gheyn,  Dumery,  Steylaert, 
Michiels,  and  the  family  van  Aerschodt." 

The  Denyn  festival  bell  by  F.  van  Aer- 
schodt, 1912,  was  substituted  for  one  of  the 
higher  bells  which  was  unsatisfactory. 

THE  52  BELLS  OF  THE  GHENT  CARILLON. 

(As  given  by  "Gent  XXe  Eeuw") 


First  Octave 

DIAM.  IN 

DIAM.  IN 

>ITCH 

WT.  IN  KG. 

METRES 

PITCH 

WT.  IN  KG. 

METRES 

G 

6050 

2.10 

D# 

1300 

1.25 

A 

4459 

1.90 

E 

1100 

1.20 

B 

3170 

1.70 

F 

950 

1.12 

C 

2607 

1.55 

F# 

800 

1.08 

c# 

2000 

1.45 

G 

700 

1.04 

D 

1700 

1.35 
Second 

G# 

Octave 

625 

1.00 

A 

500 

.92 

D# 

200 

.69 

A* 

450 

.89 

E 

175 

.65 

B 

400 

.87 

F 

150 

.61 

C 

350 

.84 

F# 

125 

.58 

c# 

300 

.80 

G 

100 

.56 

D 

250 

.71 

G# 

90 

.55 

212 


APPENDICES 


Third 

Octave 

DIAM.  IN 

DIAM.  IN 

PITCH 

WT.  IN  KG. 

METRES 

pitch 

WT.  IN  KG. 

METRES 

A 

80 

.51 

D# 

25 

.34 

A# 

65 

.47 

E 

25 

.33 

B 

50 

.41 

F 

22 

.32 

C 

40 

.40 

F# 

20 

.31 

c# 

38 

.38 

G 

18 

.29 

D 

30 

.37 
Fourth 

G# 
Octave 

17 

.28 

A 

16 

.27 

D# 

10 

.25 

A# 

15 

.26 

E 

10 

.25 

B 

14 

.26 

F 

10 

.25 

C 

13 

.25 

F# 

10 

.25 

c# 

12 

.25 

G 

9 

.24 

D 

11 

.25 
Fifth  < 

G# 

3CTAVE 

9 

.24 

A 

9 

.24 

B 

8 

.22 

A# 

9 

.24 

C 

8 

.22 

Total  weight  (52  bells),  29,154  kilograms. 


LIST    OF    THE    11    BELLS    IN   THE   EXETER 
CATHEDRAL   PEAL 

(As  given  by  John  Taylor  and  Company,  Loughborough) 


WEIGHT  IN 

DIAMETER  IN 

DATE  OF 

PITCH 

NAME 

LBS. 

FT. 

AND  IN. 

FOUNDING 

A 

Grandison 

7252 

6 

1902 

B 

Stafford 

4094 

5 

3 

1676 

c# 

3361 

4 

n 

1729 

D 

Cobthorne 

2804 

4 

6 

1676 

E 

Doom  bell 

1919 

3 

111 

1693 

F# 

1804 

3 

«J 

1902 

G 

Pongamouth 

1133 

3 

H 

1630 

G# 

1027 

3 

3* 

1676 

A 

850 

3 

1658 

B 

885 

2 

101 

1616 

c# 

722 

2 

8J 

1729 

Total  (11  bells)         25,851 
Note  :  the  G  is  an  extra  half-tone  not  used  in  ringing  changes. 


APPENDICES  213 

LIST  OF  THE  14  BELLS  IN  THE  CHIME  OF 
CORNELL   UNIVERSITY 

(As  given  by  Andrew  Dickson  White,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. ) 

DATE  OF 
FOUNDING 

1868 

1908 
1908 
1868 
1908 
1908 
1908 
1908 
1908 
1908 
1908 
1908 
1908 
1908 


All  were  made  by  Meneely  &  Co.,  of  Watervliet,  N.  Y., 
the  original  nine  bells  of  1868  and  one  of  1869  having  been 
recast  (except  C  and  F)  when  four  new  bells  were  added 
in  1908.  This  chime  is  hung  fixed  and  tunes  are  played 
from  a  "chiming  stand,"  a  kind  of  clavier. 


'ITCH 

WEIGHT  IN 

c 

4830 

D 

3167 

E 

2151 

F 

1720 

F# 

1579 

G 

1350 

A. 

950 

Bt2 

799 

B 

683 

C 

595 

c* 

554 

D 

472 

E 

336 

F 

310 

Total  (14  bells) 

19,496 

APPENDIX    E 

COMPETITION   OF   CARILLONNEURS   AT 
MECHLIN 

August  21  and  22,    1910. 

ADDRESS    OF   THE    PRESIDENT 

AT   THE   AWARDING    OF   THE    PRIZES 

The  Jury  of  the  competition  of  carillonneurs  has  noted 
with  pleasure  and  deep  satisfaction  the  general  ability 
displayed  in  this  competition;  many  carillonneurs  indeed 
have  shown  that  they  possess  all  the  qualities  of  taste  and 
skill  that  are  needed  to  make  them  excellent  carillon- 
neurs. At  all  events,  the  happy  days  of  yesterday  and 
today  have  proved  that  in  the  South  and  North  Nether- 
lands there  exists  a  highly  interesting  form  of  musical 
art,  which  is  to  be  found  nowhere  else.  Though  this 
art  may  not  flourish  everywhere  in  our  lowlands  to  the 
extent  we  wish,  yet  we  have  the  right  to  expect  that  this 
very  competition  will  furnish  the  incentive  that  will  lead 
to  the  perfection  both  of  carillons  and  of  carillonneurs, 
for  as  the  Jury  concluded,  the  qualities  of  the  player  and 
of  his  instrument  mutually  influence  each  other.  Let  us 
hope  therefore  that  everywhere  the  public  authorities  will 
be  moved  by  this  competition  to  take  increasing  care  of 

214 


APPENDICES  215 

their  carillons,  so  eminently  fitted  to  cultivate  the  popular 
taste.  We  feel  certain  that  then  within  a  short  time 
the  talent  of  many  carillonneurs  will  reach  its  full  devel- 
opment and  that  an  even  larger  number  of  artists  will 
spring  up  than  we  just  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing. 

May  the  praise  as  well  as  the  criticism  spur  on  all  to 
profit  by  the  conscientious  and  carefully  explained  decisions 
of  the  Jury. 

To  the  prize-winners,  the  Jury  says  that  they  have 
more  than  merited  their  reward  and  it  congratulates 
them  heartily.  To  all  it  expresses  its  sincere  thanks  and 
bids  them:  Au  revoir! 

REPORT  OF  THE  JURY 

The  Jury  appointed  to  judge  the  competing  carillon- 
neurs deem  it  useful  to  make  known  the  principles  on 
which  their  verdict  is  based  and  to  point  out  briefly  the 
principal  features  noticed  in  the  competition.  They  be- 
lieve that  many  carillonneurs  will  find  in  these  state- 
ments helpful  suggestions  for  future  competitions  and  for 
perfecting  themselves  in  their  music  and  that  the  rules 
laid  down  may  thus  aid  in  raising  our  beloved  carillon 
art  to  a  higher  level. 

Instrument  and  Choice  of  Music 

While  we  cannot  but  admire  the  ingenious  construc- 
tion of  a  carillon,  we  realise  on  the  other  hand  all  the 
difficulties  that  must  be  overcome  in  order  to  produce  a 
good  instrument.     Owing  to  these  difficulties  one  caril- 


216  APPENDICES 

Ion  is  better  than  another  and  there  is  probably  none 
that  is  absolutely  correct  and  in  perfect  accord.  It  is  the 
task  of  the  carillonneur  to  make  up  for  the  shortcomings 
and  to  hide  the  defects  of  his  instrument,  and  therefore, 
first  of  all,  he  must  examine  the  carillon  on  which  he 
wishes  to  play  and  test  the  bells,  in  order  to  use,  so  far 
as  may  be,  only  those  which  will  not  disturb  the  chords 
and  harmonies.  He  will  use  the  purest  bells  by  prefer- 
ence and  play  his  melodies  in  those  keys  which  will  show 
his  instrument  to  the  best  advantage  and  which  will  pro- 
duce the  finest  possible  effect.  He  must  try  to  arrange 
his  entire  manner  of  playing  in  such  a  way  that,  so  far 
as  possible,  the  best  parts  of  his  instrument  shall  domi- 
nate even  in  the  modulating  motives.  In  accordance  with 
this  rule,  compositions  having  an  often  changing  key, 
such  as  portions  of  "Tannhauser"  by  Wagner,  "Friihlings- 
lied"  by  Mendelssohn,  and  many  others  like  them,  should 
be  rejected  as  being  wholly  unsuitable  for  the  carillon. 
The  carillon  is  not  a  piano-forte,  neither  is  it  a  band  or 
an  orchestra,  and  therefore  pieces  written  for  such  play- 
ing will  have  to  be  in  most  cases  altered  and  nearly 
always  simplified. 

At  the  competition  we  heard  a  performance  of  the 
"Beiaardlied"  ("Carillon  Song")  and  the  "Souvenirs  de 
la  Rubens-Cantate,"  by  P.  Benoit,  in  which  use  was 
made  of  those  constantly  swelling  basses  which  are,  no 
doubt,  very  effective  in  orchestral  music,  but  which  on 
the  carillon  make  the  playing  heavy  and  leaden,  smother 
the  melody  and  destroy  all  beauty.  How  different  would 
have  been  the  effect  if  this  exquisite  "Beiaardlied"  had 


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218  APPENDICES 

been  rendered  simply  and  with  the  required  expression, 
with  a  few  notes  for  accompaniment.  Bells  primarily 
ask  for  melody  and  many  carillonneurs  did  not  bear  this 
in  mind. 

Through  misconception  on  the  part  of  the  players  of 
the  place  which  the  carillon  must  hold  as  a  musical  in- 
strument, the  selection  of  the  pieces  was  not  always  all 
that  could  be  desired.  For  instance,  we  found  one  caril- 
lonneur  played  the  "Marche  Solennelle"  by  Mailly.  This 
piece  was  written  for  the  organ  and  to  do  it  full  justice 
it  requires  a  number  of  organ-stops  which  of  course  the 
carillon  has  not.  The  bells  have  their  own  peculiar  char- 
acter and  so  the  melody  of  the  trio  in  this  march,  written 
with  organ  bass  accompaniment,  was  smothered  when 
played  on  a  carillon. 

The  compass  of  the  keyboard,  too,  must  be  taken  into 
account.  In  the  same  march,  for  instance,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  find  room  for  the  second  motive  on  the  keyboard 
of  the  carillon.  This  is  a  reason  why  this  piece  should 
not  be  selected,  for  should  one  absolutely  desire  to  play 
it,  he  has  personally  to  make  variations,  which  in  a  com- 
petition is  not  acceptable.  In  the  competition  we  are  re- 
viewing this  piece  was  played  by  one  of  the  most  skilled 
competitors  and  yet  notwithstanding  his  skill,  the  piece 
was  badly  maimed.  Indeed  it  could  not  have  been  other- 
wise. But  what  is  a  jury  to  do,  when  on  the  other  hand 
a  piece  is  played  of  perhaps  less  general  value  but  better 
adapted  to  the  bells,  and  played  perfectly,  with  expression 
and  rhythm,  and  not  requiring  intricate  tricks  which  truly 
rob  it  of  its  character? 


APPENDICES  219 

In  a  carillon  competition,  perhaps  more  than  in  any 
other,  the  selection  of  the  piece  by  the  competitor  is  of 
the  greatest  importance,  for  the  reason  that  the  purpose 
of  such  a  competition  is  to  promote  the  art,  the  rapidly 
growing  art  of  carillon  playing.  Therefore,  it  will  not 
do  for  the  competitor  to  present  only  the  pieces  that  prove 
his  skill;  he  should  also  choose  such  pieces  as  will  help 
to  make  the  art  of  carillon  playing  more  appreciated. 
Manual  skill  is  certainly  an  important  element,  but  the 
artistic  interpretation  is  the  greatest,  the  best,  the  most 
necessary  feature. 

The  selection  of  the  pieces  is  of  even  greater  impor- 
tance as  from  another  point  of  view  the  jury  has  the 
right  to  suppose  that  the  competitor  will  thereby  indi- 
cate his  natural  talent,  his  power,  and  his  own  concep- 
tion of  the  art.  Pieces  of  his  own  choice  therefore  are 
more  advantageous  to  the  competitor,  and  it  is  surprising 
that  some  made  their  selections  with  so  little  discrimina- 
tion. The  Jury  greatly  regrets  that  so  little  use  was 
made  of  our  great  stock  of  Flemish  anthems,  old  and 
new.  These  themes  specially  are  much  better  suited  for 
the  carillon  than  portions  of  the  "Cavalleria  Rusticana," 
"Mignon,"  "Tannhauser,"  etc. 

Obligatory  Pieces 

In  a  competition  the  pieces  designated  by  the  jury  are 
of  still  greater  importance  than  the  pieces  of  the  com- 
petitor's selection.  These  latter  indicate  his  taste  and 
the  height  at  which  he  rates  his  own  skill.  The  obliga- 
tory piece  however  allows  a  much  more  correct  opinion 


220  APPENDICES 

to  be  formed  of  the  capacity  of  the  carillonneur,  of  the 
quality  of  his  performance  and  of  his  technical  skill 
(virtuosity),  for  here  he  no  longer  can  show  off  his  own 
much  practiced  pieces,  but  has  to  conquer  within  a  lim- 
ited time  the  same  difficulties  that  his  fellow  competitors 
have  to  meet. 

The  higher  rank  is  therefore  awarded  to  him  who  gives 
the  best  performance  of  the  obligatory  pieces,  and  who  at 
the  same  time  makes  no  unpardonable  faults  in  the  music 
and  performance  of  the  pieces  of  his  own  selection. 

The  first  day  "Het  Lied  der  Vlamingen"  ("The  Song 
of  the  Flemings")  by  P.  Benoit  was  the  test  number. 
The  competitors  received  this  song  with  piano  accom- 
paniment only.  It  was  specially  stated  in  the  competi- 
tion rules  that  the  accompaniment  could  be  altered  as 
long  as  it  did  not  change  the  peculiar  character  of  the 
piece.  This  was  a  very  precious  hint,  which  however, 
many  did  not  follow.  Most  of  the  competitors  have  let 
themselves  be  deceived  by  the  accompaniment,  and  only 
one  (Mr.  Rolliers)  was  able  to  exhibit  a  personal  inter- 
pretation of  the  accompaniment,  which,  independent  of 
the  melody,  made  the  rhythm  much  more  powerful. 

The  "Andante  Cantabile,"  the  test  piece  for  the  com- 
petition of  honour,  was  well  played  by  nearly  all  the  com- 
petitors. However,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  com- 
petition, this  piece  had  to  be  played  exactly  as  it  was  writ- 
ten and  all  indications  for  retarding  and  accelerating  the 
time  had  to  be  strictly  followed.  Not  all  the  performers 
kept  this  in  view.  With  the  'Toco  animato"  the  vari- 
ous competitors  were  allowed  to  choose  from  three  ac- 


APPENDICES  221 

companiments.  Some  were  apparently  of  opinion  that  to 
select  the  most  difficult  accompaniment  would  lead  to 
victory.  These  must  have  been  disappointed.  Certainly 
it  would  have  given  them  an  advantage  if,  in  so  doing, 
they  had  not  retarded  the  time,  weakened  the  rhythm  and 
rendered  their  play  unduly  heavy. 

Let  us  now  criticise  the  various  performances. 

General  Competition 

First  Award:  Mr.  Jules  van  de  Plas,  carillonneur 
of  the  S.  Gertrude's  Church  at  Louvain.  This  com- 
petitor has  given  a  good  performance  of  "Het  Lied  der 
Vlamingen."  He  succeeded  well  in  playing  the  melody 
in  octaves  which  made  it  very  clear.  The  time,  however, 
was  too  slow.  He  certainly  found  it  not  easy  to  choose 
and  couple  motives  from  "Les  cloches  de  Corneville,,  by 
Planquette.  The  performance  of  the  very  intricate 
"Fugue"  of  his  own  composition  and  of  the  very  difficult 
Fifth  Prelude  by  J.  S.  Bach,  was  a  revelation.  None  of 
the  pieces  played  at  the  competition  were  so  difficult  as 
these.  The  almost  perfect  interpretation  of  these  pieces 
commanded  the  highest  appreciation.  It  far  exceeded 
the  expectation  of  the  members  of  the  Jury,  who  with  the 
score  before  them,  were  fully  aware  of  the  enormous  skill 
required. 

Second  Award:  Mr.  A.  Rolliers,  municipal  carillon- 
neur of  S.  Niklaas.  This  competitor  was  the  only  one 
who  has  found  the  suitable  accompaniment  for  the  obli- 
gatory piece  referred  to  above.  His  was  far  the  best 
interpretation  of  that  powerful  song.     Also  "Brise  des 


222  APPENDICES 

Nuits"  and  "Myn  Vryer  is  een  Kerelken"  ("My  Lover 
is  a  Fellow")  were  exquisitely  played  and  with  great  sen- 
timent. The  choice  of  these  pieces  was  certainly  modest, 
but  the  performance  of  these  simple  songs  with  exceeding 
beauty,  showed  how  wise  a  choice  was  made. 

Third  Award  :  Mr.  Fernand  Redoute,  municipal  caril- 
lonneur  of  Mons,  has  a  very  firm  stroke  on  the  key- 
board. The  obligatory  piece  was  well  played ;  but  he  did 
not  take  notice  of  the  rest  after  every  organpoint.  Ta- 
gliaflco's  "Romance"  was  not  played  in  the  proper  time 
and  was  given  without  the  contrasts  which  make  it  me- 
lodious. The  fantazia  of  "Tannhauser"  (a  bad  selection 
as  stated  above)  was  played  with  great  skill.  Generally 
his  performance  was  marked  by  proper  sentiment. 

Fourth  Award:  Mr.  K.  de  Mette,  municipal  caril- 
lonneur  at  Aalst  *  *  *;  Fifth  Award:  Mr.  A. 
Schynkel,  municipal  carillonneur  at  Oudenaarde  *  *  * ; 
and  Sixth  Award:  Mr.  Em.  Verrees,  carillonneur  of 
Turnhout  *  *  *. 

Competition  of  Honour 

Prize  of  the  King:  Mr.  A.  Rolliers,  municipal 
carillonneur  of  S.  Niklaas.  All  the  pieces  played  by  this 
gentleman  bore  the  stamp  of  correctness,  seriousness,  and 
true  sentiment.  The  beautiful  fantasia  of  "Les  Cloches 
de  Corneville,"  and  "The  Song  of  the  Blacksmith"  were 
faultless  and  exquisite.  In  the  "Andante  Cantabile"  he 
succeeded  very  well,  and  the  "Poco  animato"  was  excel- 
lently performed.     He  had  the  prudence  to  select  the 


APPENDICES  223 

most  simple  accompaniment  and  the  only  criticism  that 
we  can  make  is  that  the  retard  of  the  variation  was  played 
somewhat  quickly.  His  delicacy,  his  taste,  his  correct- 
ness, the  beautiful  and  pure  interpretation  of  all  his 
pieces,  gave  him  the  King's  award  by  a  unanimous  vote. 
Prize  of  the  Mechlin  Attractions:  Mr.  J.  Re- 
doute,  municipal  carillonneur  of  Mons,  performed  the 
1  'Andante  Cantabile"  somewhat  slowly  but  with  much 
sentiment,  though  the  retards  were  a  little  premature. 
"Les  Pecheurs  de  Perles"  by  Bizet,  was  perfectly  per- 
formed and  with  sincere  sentiment.  It  was  a  pity  that 
he  missed  an  important  note  at  the  concluding  chro- 
matic scale.  "La  Voix  des  Chenes"  demands  a  more 
lively  performance  and  this  competitor  should  have  tried 
to  put  more  contrasts  in  it,  which  would  have  improved 
the  whole.  Mr.  Redoute  should  specially  practice  classic 
exercises  in  order  to  develop  more  technical  skill.  If  he 
does  this,  the  Walloon  country  will  have  in  him  a  very 

competent  carillonneur. 

***** 

Competitors  from  Holland 

In  this  report,  we  have  purposely  left  the  Dutch 
competitors  until  the  last  as  we  want  to  devote  a  sepa- 
rate division  to  them. 

These  competitors  have  a  quite  different  style  of  in- 
terpretation. The  influence  of  the  ever  developing  art 
of  carillon  playing  in  Flanders  has  had  no  effect  on 
them.  In  Holland  the  use  of  springs  behind  the  clap- 
pers is  unknown.     This  mechanical  deficiency  makes  it 


224  APPENDICES 

impossible  for  a  carillonneur  to  produce  a  satisfactory 
sustained  tone.  We  hope  that  this  lack  will  be  remedied 
in  the  Dutch  carillons  in  the  near  future.  Messrs.  van 
Zuylen  of  Gouda  and  de  Lange  of  Rotterdam  distin- 
guished themselves  particularly,  and  Messrs.  de  Vries, 
Wagenaar,  Mens,  and  Diedrich  (the  latter's  perform- 
ance may  be  looked  upon  as  very  deserving,  taking  into 
account  his  advanced  age),  fought  their  battle  admira- 
bly, especially  if  one  considers  the  fact  that  they  had  very- 
little  practice  on  the  Mechlin  keyboard. 

One  must  particularly  admire  their  spirit  as,  notwith- 
standing they  were  conscious  that  their  fight  was  a  for- 
lorn hope,  they  held  on  and  did  their  part  to  make  the 
competition  a  success.  Their  experience  here  may  give  to 
them  and  their  principals  an  important  suggestion  for 
improvement  in  the  equipment  of  their  carillons.  The 
way  which  they  have  to  go,  now  lies  wide  open  for  them. 
We  hope  that  they  will  take  that  way  with  all  the  cour- 
age they  have  shown  at  Mechlin  for  the  greater  glory  of 
carillon  playing,  and  in  order  that  this  may  truly  become 
an  art  in  the  greater  Netherlands. 

Jos.  Denyn,  Municipal  Carillonneur  of  Mechlin. 

W.  W.  Starmer,  Member  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Music,  London. 

G.  van  Doorslaer,  Carillon-historian  of  Mechlin. 

J.  A.  de  Zwaan,  Organ-professor  at  the  Con- 
servatory at  the  Hague  and  Municipal  Caril- 
lonneur of  Delft. 

Cyr.  Verelst,  Manager  of  the  Municipal  Music 
Academy,  Mechlin. 


APPENDIX    F 

ENGLISH    BELLS   AND    CHANGE    RINGING 
AND    OTHER    NOTES 

MR.  W.  W.    STARMER    in  an  ad- 
dress in  1905  says: 

"English  bells  are  very  heavy  compared 
with  those  used  for  the  same  purpose  on  the  continent. 
Melodies  played  on  such  (continental)  bells  are  more 
satisfactory  than  when  played  on  heavier  bells;  the  pitch 
of  the  notes  under  the  former  conditions  being  so  much 
higher  that  there  is  no  interference  between  the  tones." 

Discussing  the  Exeter  Peal  Mr.  W.  Hamp- 

son  remarks: 

"It  must  be  understood  that  there  are  carillons  and 
chimes  of  much  heavier  weight,  but  this  is  the  greatest 
set  of  bells  to  be  run  in  full  swing  in  what  we  may  term 
the  English  fashion.  In  connection  herewith,  we  may 
say  a  few  words  about  carillons,  for  although  we  all  love 
the  grand  tone  of  the  bells  rolling  in  full  swing  in  our 
solid  English  fashion,  and  although  there  is  no  other  way 
so  well  suited  to  produce  the  full  power  of  tone  from  the 
bells,  still  we  could  wish   that  in  one  or  two  of  our 

225 


226  APPENDICES 

towers,  say  perhaps  in  such  as  will  not  carry  safely  a 
peal  in  full  swing,  we  could  hear  an  extended  carillon 
of  bells  to  vie  with  those  of  the  Netherlands,  as  at  Mech- 
lin, Bruges,  Antwerp,  and  elsewhere.  A  scale  ranging 
from  a  glorious  F  of  7  tons  through  three  or  four  chro- 
matic octaves  up  to  bells  of  only  a  few  pounds,  and 
played  upon  by  a  skilled  performer,  would  delight  large 
numbers  of  musical  people." 

And  Mr.  E.  Denison  Taylor  in  a  letter  to 
the  London  Morning  Post  says: 

"I  feel  sure  that  a  large  English  audience  (as  large  as 
are  the  Belgian  audiences)  would  be  attracted  regularly 
to  good  bell  concerts;  and  a  series  of  delightful  pro- 
grammes could  be  drawn  up,  embracing  a  wide  range  of 
music,  from  the  inventions,  fugues,  and  airs  of  Bach,  to 
the  best  of  our  old  English  folk  songs.  Moreover,  there 
is  no  reason  why  our  modern  writers  should  not  pen 
fantasias,  rondos,  and  even  sonatas,  to  catch  the  character 
of  the  carillon." 

The  following  is  condensed  from  Grove's 
Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians: 

"The  word  'change,'  in  Change  Ringing,  has  reference 
to  a  change  from  the  'usual  order,'  viz.:  the  diatonic 
scale,  struck  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  bell;  but  in 
a  sense,  this  'usual  order'  is  also  included  as  one  of  the 
changes.  *  *  *  Change  Ringing  is  the  continual  pro- 
duction of  such  changes — without  any  repetition.    *    *    * 


APPENDICES  227 

It  is  an  interesting  and  engrossing  art,  which  many  per- 
sons in  England  have  practised  as  an  amusement.  *  *  * 
From  three  bells  six  changes  are  derived ;  from  four  bells 
twenty- four  changes;  from  five  bells  120  changes,  and 
so  on  until  from  twelve  bells  (the  largest  number  ever 
rung  in  a  peal)  479,001,600  changes  are  possible." 

Mr.  E.  B.  Osborn,  in  the  London  Morning 
Post,  July  25,  1913,  writes: 

"Change-ringing,  of  course,  is  a  comparatively  modern 
invention.  It  is  true  we  hear  of  guilds  of  bell-ringers 
at  Westminster  Abbey  and  other  collegiate  churches  in 
pre-Reformation  days.  But  these  men,  who  were  often 
clerics  in  minor  orders,  did  not  ring  changes  in  the  mod- 
ern fashion.  Indeed,  the  universal  method  of  hanging 
bells  in  those  far-off  days  effectually  prevented  them  from 
making  the  almost  complete  revolution,  starting  from 
an  inverted  position,  which  causes  the  clapper  to  strike 
the  rim  twice  at  each  stroke  or  pull  of  the  rope,  and  is 
the  essential  feature  of  modern  change-ringing.  Nor  is 
there  a  scrap  of  historical  evidence  to  show  that  the  pre- 
Refbrmation  guilds  had  any  knowledge  of  the  various 
methods  of  ringing  bells  in  succession  but  in  a  varying 
order  which  are  known  to  the  ringers  of  to-day.  *  *  * 
Why  change-ringing  should  be  the  Englishman's  fa- 
vourite form  of  bell  music  is,  I  think,  easily  explained.  It 
involves  much  physical  exertion,  which  tries,  but  need  not 
overtax,  as  many  muscles  as  are  used  in  rowing,  and  is 
unquestionably  one  of  the  finest  exercises  known.  *  *  * 


228  APPENDICES 

Strictly  speaking,  change-ringing  is  not  music  at  all; 
though  when  the  voices  of  the  bells  used  are  mellow  and 
melodious  it  decorates  the  passing  time  with  simple,  sub- 
tly-varied sound-patterns,  and  forms  an  acceptable  obli- 
gato  to  the  elemental  emotions  of  an  individual  or  the 
nation." 

In  Great  Britain  and  on  the  continent,  out- 
side of  the  Low  Countries,  what  bell  ringing 
often  comes  to  be  is  well  exemplified  by  a  peti- 
tion sent  in  October,  1913,  to  the  church  war- 
dens of  St.  Matthias  Church,  Richmond  Hill. 
The  petition  reads: 

"We,  the  undersigned,  medical  men,  professional  and 
business  people,  lodging-house  proprietors,  keepers  of 
nursing  homes,  and  others,  being  much  annoyed  by  the 
frequent  and  unnecessary  ringing  of  this  bell  on  Sun- 
days and  Holy  Days,  earnestly  request  that  your  atten- 
tion be  drawn  to  the  matter.  As  you  are  aware,  the 
bell  is  rung  seven  times  on  Sundays  and  Saints'  days, 
commencing  as  early  as  seven  and  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  As  many  hard  workers  reside  within  near 
sound  of  this  bell  their  rest  is  much  disturbed,  and  the 
frequent  ringing  constitute  a  serious  nuisance.  We  there- 
fore ask  you,  gentlemen,  kindly  to  discontinue  the  tolling 
at  7  and  8  a.m.  and  to  restrict  at  other  times  the  num- 
ber of  strokes  to  60,  not  exceeding  one  minute  in  dura- 


APPENDICES  229 

To  which  one  of  the  clergy  replied : 

"We  do  not  ring  as  often  or  as  long  as  we  used  to  do 
and  it  is  surprising  that  after  fifty  years  this  bell  should 
now  at  last  have  become  a  nuisance." 

The  preface  to  "A  Key  to  the  Art  of  Ring- 
ing," by  William  Jones,  John  Reeves  and 
Thomas  Blakemore,  London  about  1796, 
begins : 

"As  an  Athletic  Exercise  or  Amusement  there  are  few 
of  so  noble  a  nature,  so  conducive  to  health,  and  employ- 
ing so  many  faculties,  both  mental  and  corporeal,  as  that 
of  the  ART  of  RINGING." 

Easter  Monday,  191 1,  on  a  ring  of  12  bells, 
the  tenor  weighing  2700  pounds,  at  Ashton- 
under-Lyne  Parish  Church,  Lancashire,  12 
change-ringers  rang  the  Record  Length  of 
Kent  Treble  Bob  Maximus,  12,240  changes, 
in  8  hours  39  minutes! 

Chapter  VII  mentions  a  charm  of  carillon 
music  that  comes  from  the  fact  that  the  caril- 
lonneur  cannot  be  seen.  In  the  preface  to  the 
new  Widor-Schweitzner  edition  of  Bach's 
Organ  Works,  Albert  Schweitzner  says: 


230  APPENDICES 

"For  rightly  interpreting  Bach's  works  something  else 
is  needed,  which  is  too  frequently  lost  sight  of.  The  im- 
pression of  grandeur  and  sublimity  must  not  be  impaired 
by  any  externalities  unpleasing  to  the  eye.  It  has  become 
the  fashion  to  set  up  organs  in  such  a  way  that  the  player 
is  visible  to  the  audience.  This  is  an  aesthetic  aberration 
without  parallel.  Contrasted  with  the  organ,  the  form 
of  man  is  far  too  insignificant.  And  though  the  organist 
play  never  so  quietly,  he  nevertheless  moves  to  and  fro 
before  the  hearers'  vision,  in  sorry  contrast  with  the 
majesty  of  the  music.  Anything  more  unedifying  can 
scarcely  be  imagined  than  to  'see'  a  Bach  fugue  played. 

"Why  should  an  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  the  grand 
old  Master's  music  be  reserved  for  the  blind  alone?  In 
olden  times  the  organist  was  always  hidden  behind  the 
Riickpositiv.  And  in  the  modern  organ,  too,  some  ar- 
rangement should  be  made  for  keeping  him  invisible/* 

And  Goethe  in  Wilhelm  Meister  (Carlyle's 

translation)  expresses  his  idea  of  true  music 

in  these  words: 

"As  they  were  about  to  go,  Natalia  stopped  and  said: 
'There  is  something  still  which  merits  your  attention. 
Observe  these  half-round  openings  aloft  on  both  sides. 
Here  the  choir  can  stand  concealed  while  singing;  these 
iron  ornaments  below  the  cornice  serve  for  fastening-on 
the  tapestry,  which,  by  order  of  my  uncle,  must  be  hung 
round  at  every  burial.  Music,  particularly  song,  was  a 
pleasure  he  could  not  live  without :  and  it  was  one  of  his 


APPENDICES  231 

peculiarities  that  he  wished  the  singer  not  to  be  in  view. 
'In  this  respect,'  he  would  say,  'they  spoil  us  at  the 
theatre;  the  music  there  is,  as  it  were,  subservient  to  the 
eye;  it  accompanies  movements,  not  emotions.  In  ora- 
torios and  concerts,  the  form  of  the  musician  constantly 
disturbs  us;  true  music  is  intended  for  the  ear  alone.'  " 


The  quotations  following  are  from  letters 
received  from  Belgium  just  as  this  book  is 
completed: 

"Antwerp,  August  30,  1914.  You  can  well  guess  that 
carillon  concerts  are  stopped  at  Antwerp  since  August  3d. 
Mr.  Denyn  played  until  last  Monday  (August  17th)  at 
Mechlin.  There  were  crowds  of  our  troops  in  that  city 
and  everybody  was  glad  to  hear  him  playing  'Braban- 
c,onne,'  'Valeureux  Liegeois,'  'God  Save  the  King,'  'The 
Russian  Hymn,'  'The  Marseillaise,'  and  'De  Vlaamsche 
Leeuw'  ('The  Lion  of  Flanders').  But  now  we  are  in 
a  state  of  siege  and  no  kind  of  festivity  is  appropriate." 

"Blankenberge,  September  12,  1914.  We  were  bom- 
barded (at  Mechlin)  first  on  Tuesday,  August  25th,  at 
5:30  A.M.  A  shell  shattered  the  wall  of  our  garden 
and  destroyed  the  rear  of  our  house.  Happily  we  were 
in  the  cellar  in  the  front.  After  forty  minutes  the  bom- 
bardment ceased  and  then  there  was  fighting  for  two 
hours  near  the  city.  On  Wednesday  afternoon  we  fled 
to  Antwerp.  *  *  *  The  carillons  of  S.  Peter's  and 
S.    Gertrude's   at   Louvain   are   gone.     The   carillon    at 


232  APPENDICES 

Mechlin  is  badly  damaged,  though  S.  Rombold's  tower 
has  withstood  the  shells  wonderfully.  The  cathedral 
otherwise  is  almost  destroyed." 

Mr.  J.  Vincent,  carillonneur  of  Amster- 
dam, writing  of  the  probable  destruction  of 
the  Mechlin  carillon,  says  in  the  Hague  "Het 
Vaderland,"  September  4,  1914: 

"Thereby  one  of  the  best  products  of  the  bell  founders 
Pieter  and  Franc  Hemony  is  lost.  The  carillon  of 
Mechlin  was  one  of  the  finest  in  Belgium.  *  *  *  Widely 
known  were  the  concerts  which  were  given  by  the  cele- 
brated Josef  Denyn.  Only  a  short  time  ago  I  had  the 
privilege  of  attending  one  of  these  concerts.  Hundreds 
of  earnest  listeners  gathered  along  the  quiet  canals  and 
streets  of  Mechlin.  *  *  *  The  beautiful  tower  with  its 
picturesque  outline,  the  evening  stillness,  the  square,  the 
silvery  tones  of  heavenly  music,  all  combined  to  make  an 
indelible  impression  upon  the  mind,  and  when,  at  the  end, 
Denyn  played  the  funeral  march  by  Chopin,  I  saw  many 
a  person  wipe  away  a  tear.  Unforgetable  moments  these. 
And  now!  *  *  *  Poor  people,  poor  Denyn." 


